Askan Geisler

Born in Gießen, Askan Geisler studied instrumental pedagogy, specialising in piano, at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen under Prof. Boris Bloch. In 1998, he was awarded the Folkwang Prize for his piano playing. He subsequently studied orchestral conducting in Dresden under Prof. Christian Kluttig and Georg Christoph. He was a member of the Conductors’ Forum of the German Music Council and is an alumnus of the ‘Musiktheater Heute’ Academy run by the Deutsche Bank Cultural Foundation. Since February 2001, Askan Geisler has been a principal répétiteur with conducting duties at the Musiktheater im Revier. In addition to numerous guest conducting engagements, he has conducted productions including ‘The Bear’ by William Walton, ‘El Cimarrón’ by Hans Werner Henze, ‘The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein’, ‘Adam Schaf hat Angst’, ‘Die Comedian Harmonists’, ‘The Messiah’ and the world premieres of ‘Der Sonne entgegen’ by Lucia Ronchetti, ‘Entgleisung!’ by Ari Benjamin Meyers and ‘Feeds.Hören TV’ by Johannes Kreidler. Another key focus of his work is directing children’s opera productions at the MiR, most recently ‘Konrad oder Das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse’ by Gisbert Näther and ‘Das Gespenst von Canterville’. This season, Askan Geisler takes on the role of musical director for *Schaf* and the revival of *The Messiah*.