MEET THE ARTISTS DONALD RUNNICLES, CONDUCTOR
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onductor Donald Runnicles is the General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, as well as the Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He was recently named Conductor Emeritus of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, having served as its Chief Conductor from 2009-2016. Maestro Runnicles enjoys close and enduring relationships with several of the most significant opera companies and orchestras and is especially celebrated for his interpretations of Romantic and post-Romantic symphonic and opera repertoire which are core to his musical identity.
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Runnicles’ extensive discography includes complete recordings of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Britten’s Billy Budd, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. His recording of Wagner arias with tenor Jonas Kaufmann and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin won the 2013 Gramophone prize for Best Vocal Recording, and his recording of Janáček’s Jenůfa with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin was nominated for a 2015 Grammy® award for Best Opera Recording. Donald Runnicles is a recipient of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and holds honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. KIM-LILLIAN STREBEL, SOPRANO
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ritish/Swiss soprano Kim-Lillian Strebel has received rapturous critical acclaim following a number of high-profile debuts. These include Pamina in Barrie Koksy’s production of Die Zauberflöte for Cincinnati Opera - marking her U.S. operatic debut – and Théâtre National de l’Opéra-Comique, Cendrillon for Theater Freiburg, and Lauretta in Calixto Bieito’s new production of Gianni Schicchi at the Komische Oper Berlin. Recent concert performances include her U.S. concert debut with the Atlanta Symphony in performances of Missa Solemnis and her BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra debut in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, as well as joining the TonhalleOrchester Zürich under Peter Kennel as Solveig in Peer Gynt and the Kammerorchester Basel for Mozart’s Requiem under Giovanni Antonini. Last season, she opened the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg’s season with CPE Bach’s Magnificat under Riccardo Minasi and sang Messiah with La Orquesta Sinfonica Y Coro RTVE, as well as returning to Atlanta Symphony for Bach’s Cantata No. 80 under Robert Spano and sang the Mozart Requiem in Skopje with the Macedonian Philharmonic under Emil Tabakov. Kim-Lillian, born in London to an artistic Central European family, was trained at an early age as a dancer. Her singing talent was then discovered by the late Anthony Rolfe-Johnson. She is now an honour ARAM of the Royal Academy of Music where she studied under Ryland Davies and Audrey Hyland. She then continued at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and became a pupil of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
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