Julien Salemkour

Biography

Julien Salemkour was born in Hanover into a family of German-Algerian origin. He studied conducting with Hans-Herbert Jöris and Michael Gielen at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.

Then he has worked as co-tutor with duties as an assistant conductor at various opera houses in Germany such as Leipzig, Mannheim, Dortmund and Bielefeld, where he assisted Michael Gielen, Sir George Solti, Christoph von Dohnányi and Pierre Boulez.

In 2000 Julien Salemkour was appointed Kapellmeister and Assistant of the GMD Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Berlin. Conducted multiple performances, including Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Fidelio, Die Zauberflöte, La Forza del destino, Macbeth, Aida, Don Carlo, Der Freischütz, Moses and Aaron, Lohengrin, The Nose, Salome, Tosca, La Bohème, Turandot.

Guest engagements led him to Tokio, Metropolitan opera, La Scala, Dresden Semperoper, Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. He also has performed with the Radio Sinfonie Orchester Berlin.

For nine years he collaborated with the Romanian Radio Orchestra in Bucharest, with whom he recorded, as a regular guest, an extensive repertoire, including Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, L’enfant et les Sortilèges, Daphnis et Chloé (complete), Mahler’s 1st Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde 2nd act, preludes to Lohengrin, Rienzi, Tristan und Isolde, Dvorak’s Requiem and 7th Symphony, and Verdi’s Requiem.

Performed with renowned artists such as Christina Schäfer, Rene Pape, Rolando Villasón, Anna Netrebko and Daniel Barenboim.

In 2009-10 he taught at The Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin (Score-reading), and in 2012 he was a semester-long acting Professor of Conducting. Other student projects include: Die Zauberflöte in Daegu (South Korea, 2016, 2017 and January 2019), master classes for conducting students and a concert at The Geneva Conservatory of Music, Die Zauberflöte at The Hong Kong Music Academy (March 2019).

In February 2023 he will debut at the Bolshoi Theatre with Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.