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Anna Handler

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Anna Handler
Handler in 2019
Born (1996-04-16) April 16, 1996 (age 28)
Cagnes-sur-Mer, France
Occupations
  • Pianist
  • Conductor
Websiteannahandler.com/index.php?lang=en

Anna Isabella Handler (born 16 April 1996 in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France) is a German conductor and concert pianist. She was a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2023–2024 season.[1] In September 2024, Handler began—appointed by Andris Nelsons—her tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), making her BSO debut at Tanglewood in 2025.[2]

Education

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Anna Handler was born to a German father and a Colombian mother in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where her parents worked as engineers. She grew up in Munich, Germany, together with her younger sister, with whom she initially formed a singing duo. She studied piano and conducting with Ingrid Fliter at the Accademia Pianistica di Imola,[3] with Adrian Oetiker at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich,[4] with Henri Sigfridsson at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen,[5] with Nicolás Pasquet and Ekhart Wycik at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar,[5] and with Pavel Gililov at the Musikakademie in Liechtenstein.

Handler graduated from the Juilliard School in May 2023 where she received mentorship from David Robertson and was the proud recipient of the Juilliard Kovner Fellowship for outstanding students of classical music. She was the first conductor ever to receive this.[1]

Professional career

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Following her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2022 as musical director of the Káťa Kabanová opera camp, Handler was immediately re-engaged to conduct new productions of Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges (2023) and Orff's Die Kluge (2024). Further 2023–2024 highlights include her debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and North Carolina Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Grazer Philharmoniker and Munich Radio Orchestra.[1]

The 2022/2023 season saw her debut with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein,[6] OFUNAM Orchestra Filarmónica de la UNAM in Mexico,[5] and Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle in Schwerin.[7]

Handler has assisted distinguished conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, including conducting the Banda for the concert opera production "Mazeppa" with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra;[5] Daniel Harding (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks), Barbara Hannigan (LSO, Munich Philharmonic); as well as Manfred Honeck, Mei-Ann Chen, and Simone Young. At the Bayerische Staatsoper, she assisted Oksana Lyniv and took over the musical direction of the production "Eve and Adam", premiered as part of the 2019 Munich Opera Festival.[1]

As founder and director of the ensemble Enigma Classica, Handler has collaborated with notable soloists including Arabella Steinbacher, Daniel Müller-Schott, Sabine Meyer and her sister, violinist Laura Handler, with whom she forms a successful instrumental duo.[1] Together with her team at Enigma Classica, Handler presented an interdisciplinary project on music education, featuring real-time generative video animation at the Young Artist Festival Bayreuth in August 2022. She was awarded the "Maria Ladenburger Förderpreis" in cooperation with WDR, the "Cusanuswerk Foundation", and Deutsche Grammophon. She has also received the "Rising Star Award" from the European Cultural Foundation Europamusicale.[5]

Video Recordings

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Awards

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Reception

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What is most captivating is the expressiveness of her playing and her impressive presence, which makes her always the center of the action; she lives "her" music. "Her" is intentionally chosen because she makes the music entirely her own. She never just delivers it, but brings it to life. Stylistically she has absolute confidence; her personal cadenza in the Mozart concerto and her sovereign conducting from the piano clearly prove that.

— Valérie Groß, Jury's verdict on the occasion of the awarding of the Maria-Ladenburger-Förderpreis 2020, Deutsche Grammophon

If you would like to see what is possible in terms of direct communication between an orchestra and its conductor, you must listen the Ensemble Enigma Classica under its founder Anna Handler. Every encouraging smile, every sharp look, every stimulating gesture leads to immediately audible consequences from the excellent young musicians, who pay attention to their boss as if hypnotised. The conductor who grew up in Munich, not yet in her mid-twenties, is infinitely more than a motivational coach: her conducting technique is impeccable.

— Michael Bastian Weiß[9], Abendzeitung München
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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Anna Handler. Biography". Salzburg Festival. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  2. ^ "Boston Symphony appoints Anna Handler as Assistant Conductor". Pizzicato. 2024-02-09. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  3. ^ "Anna Handler alla Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO)". Accademia Pianistica di Imola. 2024-02-09. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  4. ^ "Anna Handler, piano". lvivmozart.com. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Chloe Rabinowitz (2024-02-08). "Boston Symphony Orchestra Appoints Anna Handler as New Assistant Conductor". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  6. ^ "Anna Handler. Conductress". kulmag.live. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  7. ^ "Anna Handler debuts with the BBC Philharmonic". KD Schmid Artists Agency. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  8. ^ About the Program. Kovner Fellowship Alumni. Juilliard School.
  9. ^ Michael Bastian Weiß (2020-10-21). ""Enigma Classica" in der Reithalle: Super scharf!". Abendzeitung München. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
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