Patrick Furrer

Conductor

– Projects –

As a staff conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Patrick Furrer worked in a great number of productions since 2011. Last season he conducted Magic Flute and the new French Don Carlos, the latter also in the “Live in HD” series, the Met’s broadcast in cinemas and TV/radio stations all around the world. In the current season he takes the podium for the new Lohengrin and next season he will lead the revival of Julie Taymor’s famed Magic Flute production.
Born and raised in Switzerland, Patrick studied piano in Zurich and conducting in Bern, Vienna and Aspen.
He started his professional career at the Theater Basel as a répétiteur and conductor, working in many productions.
Later he served as 1st Kapellmeister at the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck. He has led numerous new productions at various opera houses, such as Hansel and Gretel, Jonny spielt auf, Un ballo in maschera, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and The merry wives of Windsor in Innsbruck, L’elisir d’Amore at the Volksoper in Vienna, Don Giovanni in Lucerne, Die Fledermaus with the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (where he also conducted Mahler 5 & 9), as well as Béatrice et Bénédict and La Bohème at the Northwestern Opera Theater (Hansel and Gretel follows next season).
He conducted performances of Cosi fan tutte, Otello, The Magic Flute and Werther in Innsbruck, Rigoletto in St. Gallen, Ballo in maschera and Magic Flute in Mannheim, Hänsel and Gretel in Nürnberg, Penthesilea, La Bohème and Flying Dutchman back in Basel as well as Hoffmann at the Zurich Opera House. He conducted the Merola Grand Finale at the San Francisco Opera House and has also been part of the musical team at the Salzburg Festival for three summers (Meistersinger, Trovatore and Wozzeck).
In the symphonic field, Patrick conducted orchestras like the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the symphony orchestras of Basel, Bern, St. Gallen and Biel, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester, the Orchestre du Conservatoire National de Paris. He also conducted the opening ceremony of the Swiss National
Exposition.