Markus Poschner

Since taking over as principal conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz in 2017, Markus Poschner and the top Austrian ensemble have been delighting audiences and the international press alike. His vision is to find new Bruckner interpretations. 2020 Bruckner Orchestra Linz was named “Orchestra of the Year” and himself “Conductor of the Year” in Austria.

In 2018 his recording of the complete Brahms symphonies for Sony Classical with the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, whose chief conductor he has been since 2015, featured a completely new reading of these works and promptly won a prestigious International Classical Music Award. His recording of Offenbach’s Maître Péronilla with the Orchestre National de France was celebrated by the press and won the German Record Critics’ Award in 2021.

As of the 2025/26 season, Markus Poschner will become principal conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra with whom he has proclaimed the common credo of “touching people with our music and intensity.”

Since winning the German Conductors Award, Markus Poschner has made guest appearances at many internationally renowned orchestras and opera houses, including Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberger Symphoniker, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, The Konzerthausorchester Berlin, RSB Berlin, Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, The Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, NHK Tokio, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra as well as being present at Opera houses in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Zurich.

After studying in Munich and assisting Sir Roger Norrington and Sir Colin Davis, Markus Poschner first worked as 1st Kapellmeister at the Komische Oper Berlin. From 2007 to 2017, he was GMD of the Bremen Philharmonic. In July 2010, the University of Bremen appointed him honorary professor, as did the Anton Bruckner University in Linz in 2020.

He conducted the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra for the first time at its extraordinary guest performance in Abu-Dhabi 2019 with Wagner’s Walküre. Markus Poschner opened the Bayreuth Festival with Tristan und Isolde in July 2022 and returned there again in summer 2023