Matthias Pintscher

Matthias Pintscher is the Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris. In 2020-2021, Pintscher also began a three-season appointment as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s new Creative Partner. Known equally as one of today’s foremost composers, Pintscher’s works are frequently commissioned and performed by major international orchestras.  

Pintscher opened his 2021-2022 season as the “Theme Composer” of Suntory Hall’s 2021 festival, including the world premiere of his work neharot which he conducted with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In January 2022, his violin concerto written for Leila Josefowicz, Assonanza II, will be premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony under Pintscher’s baton. He makes debuts in 2021-2022 with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Lahti Symphony, and Musikkollegium Winterthur. He returns to the Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romance, Barcelona Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra at the Holland Festival, Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Boulez Ensemble. In recent seasons, Pintscher has begun to conduct staged operas, and in 2021-2022 will return to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin to lead Lohengrin, for which he gave the production’s premiere the prior season. 

Pintscher has held many titled positions, most recently as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s Artist-in-Association for nine seasons. In 2018-2019, he served as the Season Creative Chair for the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, as well as Artist-in-Residence at the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He was Principal Conductor of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra from 2016-2018. 

Pintscher began his musical training in conducting, studying with Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös in his early twenties, during which time composing soon took a more prominent role in his life. Pintscher's music is championed by some of today's finest performing artists, orchestras, and conductors. His works have been performed by such orchestras as the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Paris, among many others. He is published exclusively by Bärenreiter. Pintscher has been on the composition faculty of the Juilliard School since 2014.