BIO

Johannes Witt is frequent guest conductor at opera houses like Wiener Staatsoper, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Finnish National Opera, Norwegian National Opera, Czech National Opera, Dutch National Opera and Ballet a.o.
In the current season Johannes will return to Wiener Staatsoper and Czech National Opera, debut with the WDR Funkhausorchester and conduct several premieres for Oper Wuppertal.

With the beginning of the season 2021/22 Johannes took up a position as conductor for the Oper Wuppertal. Highlights of his schedule there are the German premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino's »Il canto s'attrista, perché?«, the premieres of »La Traviata«, »Werther«, »Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor« as well as performances of »Erwartung«, »Rigoletto«, »Die Lustige Witwe« a.o.
In the years before he was conductor for the Aalto Theater in Essen, where he conducted a broad repertoire including new productions and revivals of »Die Zauberflöte«, »Die Csárdásfürstin«, »Il Barbiere di Siviglia«, »Norma«, »Das Land des Lächelns«, »The Bartered Bride«, »Hänsel und Gretel«, »Così fan tutte«, »Il Trovatore«, »Die Fledermaus«, »Cain, overo il primo omicidio«, »Orfeo ed Euridice« as well as the ballets »Romeo and Juliet«, »The Nutcracker«, »Giselle«, »The Sleeping Beauty«, »Onegin«, »Swan Lake«, »Don Quichote« and »Carmen / Bolero«.

He conducted the Aalto Theater premieres of »Onegin«, »Swan Lake« and »Eine Nacht in Venedig«, all highly praised by press and audience alike:

»(...) Last but not least, there is a special praise from the critic (which was confirmed at the end by the audience's sudden standing ovations) for the highly talented man in front of the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, namely Johannes Witt(...) An exceptional conductor who one should keep an eye on (...)«

(Alviano Salvago, DER OPERNFREUND)

His highlights in 2023 included the Dutch Premiere of the opera »Angel's Bone« by Du Yun at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam as well as his return to Wiener Staatsoper to conduct »La Fille mal Gardée«.
In 2021 Johannes returned to Staatstheater Stuttgart and Aalto Theater Essen to conduct John Cranko's »Taming of the Shrew« as well as the revival of Dietrich Hilsdorfs acclaimed production of »Cain, overo il primo omicidio« in Essen.
Other guest engagements have led him to the Nationaltheater Mannheim (»Don Giovanni«), the Oper Bonn (»Madama Butterfly«), the Staatstheater Kassel (»Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor«) and the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern (German premiere of the chamber opera »Heart Sutra« by Christian Jost and the monodrama »The Raven« by Toshio Hosakawa). In 2016 Johannes conducted a critically acclaimed premiere of Prokofiev's »Romeo and Juliet« at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville.

His concert repertoire includes works from early baroque to contemporary compositions.
He has worked with orchestras such as Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Duisburger Philharmoniker, Essener Philharmoniker, Bremer Philharmoniker, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal, Folkwang Kammerorchester, Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra a.o.

He began his professional career as a coach at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. In 2012 Stefan Soltész brought him to the Aalto Theater Essen as a coach and conductor. Here he worked closely with Stefan Soltész as his assistant on productions like »Pelléas et Mélisande«, »Ariadne auf Naxos« or »Parsifal«. He assisted conductors such as Tomáš Netopil, Friedrich Haider, Martyn Brabbins, Dima Slobodeniouk, Giuliano Carella and Will Humburg, the latter for a production of “Die tote Stadt” at Teatro Massimo di Palermo.

Johannes studied conducting in Cologne with Professor Michael Luig at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and in in St. Petersburg with Loenid Korchmar of the Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory St. Petersburg.

Johannes is a trained percussionist. Before conducting, he specialized on the marimba as a soloist in recitals and in concerts with orchestra. Johannes' passion for orchestral music and for the powerful sensation of collective music making has its roots in his many years as timpanist in the youth orchestras of Toronto and Cologne.

As Artistic Director of the Landesjugendorchester Hamburg, a position he took up in 2020, Johannes shares his passion for music with highly talented young musicians. He hopes to be a source of inspiration for these future colleagues of his and that their time in a youth orchestra has a similarly meaningful impact on their lives as it did on his.

press reviews

»Salome«
Oper Wuppertal • 2024

» Under the direction of Johannes Witt, the Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal illuminates the extremes of the score. Strauss' music, which oscillates between lyrical moments and explosive outbursts, is presented with great precision and expressiveness. The tonal density that Witt creates underlines the intensity of the action and makes the nerve-wracking tension emanating from the stage tangible from the orchestra pit.«

(Dominik Lapp, KULTURFEDER, 14.10.2024)

»La Traviata«
Oper Wuppertal • 2023

»Conductor Johannes Witt leads the Sinfonieorchester Orchester Wuppertal in an equally passionate and sensitive performance and accompanies the singers superbly.«

(Rudolf Hermes, DER OPERNFREUND, 16.03.2023)

»The Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal under the direction of Johannes Witt is masterful in the fine detailed piano passages as well as the emotional outbreaks of the score. And they leave the singers all the space they require.«

(Uli Rehwald, IOCO, 01.03.2023)

»Werther«
Oper Wuppertal • 2022

»The singers can always rely on Johannes Witt, since the 2021/22 season 1. Kapellmeister at the Oper Wuppertal. Witt learned his craft from the ground up(…) his profound education and training is both audible and visible this evening. He elicits cultivated and transparent sounds from the orchestra, even in the forte passages. He meets the needs of the singers concerning dynamics and tempi with sensitivity, with the result that the singers can develop their parts in a free and very relaxed manner.«

(Hartmut Sassenhausen, O-TON 2022)

»Onegin«
Vienna State Opera • 2021

»The Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper under the direction of the young German conductor Johannes Witt (…) who has conducted "Onegin" numerous times (...) played Tchaikovsky’s beautiful and often melancholic music with great expressiveness.«

(Sieglinde Pfabigan, DER NEUE MERKER, 01/2022)

»With the Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper (Johannes Witt) brought to life all emotions (…) with verve and sensitivity. He has a weakness for ballet and the music of Tchaikovsky. From „The Sleeping Beauty“ to „Onegin“, he has all famous ballets in his portfolio.«

(Ditta Rudle, WWW.TANZSCHRIFT.AT, 24.12.2021)

»THE LAND OF SMILES«
Aalto Theater Essen • 2020

»Musically and dramaturgically, the staging and cast (...) are at an excellent level. (...) The Essen Philharmonic Orchestra under the experienced direction of Johannes Witt is outstanding.«

(Juan Carlos Tellechea, MUNDOCLASSICO, 09.01.2020)

»A NIGHT IN VENICE«
Aalto Theater Essen • 2018

»Conductor Johannes Witt knows how to elicit Viennese wonders from the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra and can demonstrate the hit quality of every piece of music.«

(Annika Meyer, LITERATUR UND FEUILLETON, 07.06.2018)

»Musically, the performance is on a good level. Johannes Witt and the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra conjure up a veritable waltz from the orchestra pit and demonstrate that Strauss rightfully deserves the title »King of Waltz«.«

(Thomas Molke, ONLINE MUSIK MAGAZIN, 07.06.2018)

»The lively opera choir and the lively but also warm-hearted Essen Philharmonic Orchestra under Johannes Witt make happiness perfect.«

(Klaus Stübler, RUHRNACHRICHTEN, 04.06.2018)

»SWAN LAKE«
Aalto Theater Essen • 2018

»The salt in the soup is the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra. With Johannes Witt, they ignite a suggestively glowing Tchaikovsky sound that remains in ones ear for a long time after leaving the opera house.«

(Michael-Georg Müller, WAZ/NRZ KULTUR, 28.01.2018)

»The more than 100 years old choreography of Petipa seems a little slow to us today. And Johannes Witt did not drive the Essen Philharmonic to fast tempi. What you heard were big, round Tchaikovsky sounds, fluid and sweet.«

(Julia Gass, RUHRNACHRICHTEN, 28.01.1018)

»Under the direction of Johannes Witt, the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra plays a supple Tchaikovsky, often held back in favor of precision, with dramatic power, where necessary.«

(Edda Breski, WA.DE, 29.01.2018)