Sascha Goetzel

Born and raised in Vienna, where beauty and apocalypse have long shared the same air, Sascha Goetzel has spent more than two decades working across four continents as a conductor and advocate. He is Music Director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (since 2022), Artistic and Music Director of the Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2025), and winner of the 2026 BBC Music Magazine Award for Best Orchestral Recording. He also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kraków Philharmonic and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Opera by the Fjord, in collaboration with Bergen National Opera.

Goetzel spent nearly a decade as a freelance violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic before devoting himself to conducting. His artistic formation was shaped by studies with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy and by his work with Seiji Ozawa, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta and André Previn.

His opera career began at the Tyrolean State Theatre Innsbruck under Brigitte Fassbaender. His 2014 Vienna State Opera debut with Le Nozze di Figaro led to six consecutive seasons at the house, with further engagements at the Mariinsky Theatre, Zurich Opera and the Vienna Volksoper. During his twelve-year tenure as Artistic Director of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (2008–2020), he led the ensemble to the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms, Royal Concertgebouw and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. At the ONPL, he increased subscription audiences by more than 30 percent in his first two seasons.

A recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Classics, Onyx, Naïve and BIS, his collaborations with Nemanja Radulović, Lucienne Renaudin Vary and Fatma Said have earned distinctions including the Opus Klassik and Gramophone Award. His BIS recording of Korngold, Schreker and Krenek with the ONPL won the 2026 BBC Music Magazine Award for Best Orchestral Recording. For Goetzel, music suppressed by history does not disappear. It waits.

Foto: Christian Barcan

Updated June 2026