Jurjen Hempel
Dutch conductor Jurjen Hempel (*1961) has been named Music Director at the Opéra de Toulon in France. In September 2018, he will succeed Giuliano Carella, who has this job since 2003. Jurjen Hempel studied conducting with David Porcelijn and Kenneth Montgomery at the Utrecht Conservatory. Already during his studies he was invited to assist Edo de Waart, Hans Vonk and David Robertson. On invitation of Seiji Ozawa, he studied at the Tanglewood Conducting Class where he worked with Bernard Haitink and Lorin Maazel.
An important recognition of his already distinguished career at that time was when he was finalist and prize-winner at the first Sibelius Conductors Competition in May 1996 in Helsinki. He is a renowned conductor of contemporary music and conducted operas at Gergiev’s Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, at the New Israeli Opera Tel Aviv and at the Munich Biennale.
