INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is excited to announce that its new music director, Jun Märkl, will conduct The Music of Strauss this weekend, January 26-27, at Hilbert Circle Theatre. Hear Strauss at his most whimsical in Till Eulenspiegel and his most profound in Also Sprach Zarathustra—music made famous by Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. German violinist Carolin Widmann will join the ISO for Strauss’s youthful Violin Concerto.
This morning, Maestro Märkl was introduced as the music director at a press conference. He has served as the ISO’s artistic advisor since 2021 and will act as music director designate until September. As music director, he will bring creative leadership to the ISO through visionary programming, community engagement, and artistic development. Maestro Märkl is highly respected as an interpreter of both symphonic and operatic Germanic repertoire and for his idiomatic explorations of the French impressionists.
“The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra shines a sparkling light throughout the city of Indianapolis with every unforgettable performance,” said Maestro Märkl. “Through our concerts that feature the incredibly talented ISO musicians, highly acclaimed soloists, and guest conductors, the ISO’s Education and Community Engagement programs that serve music lovers of all ages, and so much more, the ISO is a positive force for good in our community, and I’m excited and honored to lead the charge.”
Buy tickets to the ISO’s concert at: https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/event/the-music-of-strauss/
Performances begin at 8 p.m. Friday, January 26, and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, January 27.
For more information regarding the policies of the Hilbert Circle Theatre, please visit the ISO website.
About Jun Märkl
Jun Märkl’s long-standing relationships at the state operas of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, and Semperoper Dresden have been complemented by his directorships of the Nationaltheater Mannheim (1994–2000), Orchestre National de Lyon (2005–11), MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig (2007–2012) and the Basque National Orchestra (2014–17).
He has held positions with the Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra as Music Director since 2021, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan as Music Director since 2022, and as Principal Guest Conductor of Resident Orkest Den Haag and Oregon Symphony Orchestra.
He appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, among others, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Munich, Hamburg, Oslo philharmonics, the Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Montreal, Melbourne, and Sydney orchestras, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, and Orchestre de Paris.
Born in Munich, Märkl’s father was a distinguished concertmaster, and his mother a solo pianist. Jun Märkl studied at the Musikhochschule in Hannover with Sergiu Celibidache in Munich and Gustav Meier in Michigan. In 1986, he won the conducting competition of the Deutsche Musikrat and a year later won a scholarship from the Boston Symphony Orchestra to study at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Fully dedicated to working with young musicians, he has acted as Principal Conductor at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, teaches as a Guest Professor at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, and is a regular guest conductor at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.
About Carolin Widmann
A wonderfully versatile musician, Carolin Widmann’s activities span the great classical concerti, new commissions specially written for her, solo recitals, a wide variety of chamber music, and period instrument performances, including play/direction from the violin. Widmann was awarded the Bayerischer Staatspreis for music in 2017, honoring her individuality and exceptional musicianship. Widmann was also the recipient of an International Classical Music Award (Concerto category) for her critically acclaimed recording of both Mendelssohn’s and Schumann’s Violin Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, released in August 2016 by ECM, which Widmann herself conducted from the violin.
Named Musician of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards 2013, Widmann has enjoyed collaborations with some of the world’s leading orchestras.
