Evan Rogister

Biography

Evan Rogister is Principal Conductor of Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. A dual citizen of the United States and Germany, Rogister enjoys meaningful artistic partnerships on both sides of the Atlantic.

From 2018 to 2021, Rogister conducts Göteborg Opera’s first complete cycle of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. In the fall of 2021, his multiyear collaboration with director Stephen Langridge culminates in a new production of Götterdämmerung, timed to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Gothenburg.

Other highlights of the 2021/2022 season include Rogister’s return to the Bolshoi Theatre, where he conducts a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin, directed by Francois Girard.

Evan Rogister will lead Washington National Opera’s return to live performance at the Kennedy Center this fall, conducting concert performances of Come Home: A Celebration of Return. In the spring of 2022, Rogister conducts Bizet’s Carmen in an acclaimed production by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. Zambello’s groundbreaking virtual reality experience of Beethoven’s Fidelio — created in collaboration with Rogister and the WNO Orchestra — will be released later this year.

Equally at home on the concert stage as in the pit, Rogister returns to the North Carolina Symphony in March of 2022 with an all-Mozart program. Recent symphonic projects include collaborations with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, l’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington D.C.), the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Symphoniker, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Rogister debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2017/2018 season, conducting Mozart’s The Magic Flute; he returns to the MET in a future season. In addition to Der Ring des Nibelungen, Rogister has conducted three other works by Wagner, Tannhäuser (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Rienzi (Deutsche Oper Berlin) and Lohengrin (Royal Swedish Opera). Recent operatic highlights also include a new production of Puccini’s La bohème at the Bolshoi Theatre, a collaboration with Peter Stein on a new production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Malmö Opera), two new productions of Eugene Onegin (Royal Swedish Opera and Spoleto Festival USA), Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung in double bill (Göteborg Opera and Seattle Opera); Szymanowski’s King Roger (The Santa Fe Opera), Verdi’s Otello (Berlin and Luxembourg), André Previn’s Streetcar Named Desire (Chicago Lyric Opera and L.A. Opera) and season opening productions at the Kennedy Center of Verdi’s Aida and Bizet’s Carmen — which marked the beginning of Washington National Opera’s 60th Anniversary Season.

Rogister’s debut recording with Deutsche Grammophon, Follow, Poet, was released in January of 2015. The album features new works by the composer Mohammed Fairouz written for mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, with Rogister conducting the Ensemble LPR.