Hans Graf

Known for his wide-ranging repertoire and creative programming, the distinguished Austrian conductor Hans Graf is one of today’s most highly respected musicians.

With Hans Graf, “a brave new world of music-making under inspired direction” (The Straits Times) began at the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, where he was appointed Chief Conductor from the 2020–2021 season, and Music Director from the 2022–2023 season. 

Graf also currently holds the title of Principal Guest Conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in Denmark and was formerly Music Director of the Houston Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre national Bordeaux Aquitaine, the Basque National Orchestra, and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. 

He has appeared with nearly all the major orchestras in the United States, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In Canada, he’s appeared with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

In Europe, Graf has conducted the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, the Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharhonic, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and many others.

In the Far East and Southern hemispheres, Graf is a regular guest with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras, and the National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan).

A frequent conductor at the Salzburg Festival since 1983, Graf has also participated in several prestigious festivals, including Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Bregenzer Festspiele, and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in Europe, and Tanglewood, Blossom Music, Aspen Music, Grant Park Music, and Bravo! Vail in the United States.

In the world of opera, Graf has led many performances at the Vienna State Opera and in opera houses in Munich, Berlin, Paris, and Rome, among others. His more recent productions include Wagner’s Parsifal in Zurich and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov in Strasbourg. In 2014, he was awarded the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis for Richard Strauss’s Die Feuersnot at the famed Vienna Volksoper, where he returned in 2021 to lead Richard Strauss’s beloved Der Rosenkavalier.

Graf’s extensive discography is available on the EMI Records, Orfeo, CBC Records, Erato Records, Capriccio, and JVC labels and includes all the symphonies of Mozart and Schubert, the complete orchestral works of Henri Dutilleux (recorded under the composer’s supervision), and the world-premiere recording of Zemlinsky’s Es war einmal. Graf’s semi-staged production of Berg’s Wozzeck with the Houston Symphony won the Grammy and Echo Klassik awards for best opera recording.

Born near Linz in 1949, Graf studied conducting with Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache, and Arvid Jansons. For his service to music, he was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur by the French government and received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold from the Republic of Austria.