Ulrich Backofen

Ulrich Backofen was born and raised in Dresden. He studied conducting at the conservatoires of Dresden and Leipzig, among others with Rolf Reuter and Kurt Masur. After political imprisonment in the former GDR, he moved to the West before the fall of the Berlin Wall and received his first appointments at the Frankfurt Municipal Opera, working alongside Michael Gielen.

Since then, he has conducted concerts as well as radio and CD recordings with leading orchestras in nearly all major German music centres, and has appeared in renowned concert halls and across many European countries. His repertoire spans the symphonic and choral symphonic literature from the Baroque era to the present day, focusing on the key European composers of each period.