Christian Thielemann was born in 1959. In 1988 he became Germany's youngest general music director with his appointment at Nuremberg, before returning to the Deutsche Oper in his hometown of Berlin in 1997. More recently he led the Munich Philharmonic from 2004 to 2011. In addition to his current position in Dresden, Thielemann was appointed artistic director of the Salzburg Easter Festival in 2013. His work has taken him to many of the finest opera houses around the globe and he is a regular guest of world-class orchestras such as the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics.
In 2000 he made his critically lauded debut at the Bayreuth Festival, to which he has returned year after year. He was appointed music director in July 2015.