Named Opernwelt magazine’s Conductor of the Year in 2020, Titus Engel boasts a comprehensive knowledge of repertoires spanning many epochs, which gives him a thorough understanding of musical works in their diverse relationships. The audience could recently admire the Swiss conductor not only in historically informed performances of a Brahms cycle, but also in Lohengrin (at the Tiroler Festspielen in Erl) and in a monumental production of Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise at Stuttgart Opera. 

As of the 2023/24 season, Titus Engel has taken over as principal conductor of Basel Sinfonietta, inaugurating his tenure by leading the Sinfonietta’s joint concert with the NDR Big Band and Chorwerk Ruhr at the Ruhrtriennale in September 2023. He opened the season at the Komische Oper Berlin conducting Tobias Kratzer’s new production of Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa. Subsequently he presents Hèctor Parra’s new opera Justice at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and a revival of Weber’s Der Freischütz (dir. Christoph Marthaler) at the Theater Basel. 

Engel has guest conducted such orchestras and ensembles as Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Philharmonia Orchestra, SWR and WDR Sinfonieorchester, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Ensemble Modern and Klangforum Wien. He has regularly appeared at the opera houses of Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Lyon, Basel, und Geneva. His production of Stockhausen’s Donnerstag in Theater Basel (prepared jointly with Lydia Steier) was named the 2016 Spectacle of the Year by Opernwelt magazine. The staging of Chaya Czernowin’s Infinite Now (which he conducted in Opera Vlaanderen, Nationaltheater Mannheim, and Philharmonie de Paris) became the 2017 Premiere of the Year. Engel has also led premiere performances at the Salzburger and Berliner Festspiele, Lucerne Festival, Ruhrtriennale, in Madrid’s Teatro Real and the Vienna Konzerthaus. 

Titus Engel studied musicology and philosophy in Zurich and Berlin. He developed his conducting skills in Dresden with Christian Kluttig. He has recorded extensively for the radio and record labels. Engel is also the founder of Akademie Musiktheater Heute and publisher of several books on contemporary opera.