Music is the energy that connects people

Teodor Currentzis

Teodor Currentzis is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Utopia Orchestra and Choir, the Chief Conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra (2018–2024), and the Artistic Director of musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir.

Teodor was born in Greece, where he began studying music. In 1994, he entered St. Petersburg State Conservatory to study under the legendary professor Ilya Musin.

Together with his ensembles, Teodor Currentzis regularly tours Europe and the world with performances in numerous prestigious venues including Vienna Konzerthaus, Philharmonie Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Isarphilharmonie Munich, Philharmonie de Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, Auditorio Nacional, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, and La Scala.

As a stage conductor and musical director, Teodor Currentzis has worked with the leading opera theatres including Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real Madrid, and the Bolshoi Theatre. He has also collaborated with the key figures in modern Western theatre: Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci, Peter Sellars, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Theodoros Terzopoulos, and others. Teodor Currentzis is a Resident Artist at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the RUHRtriennale Festival, festivals in Lucerne and Aix-en-Provence. As a Resident Artist at the Vienna Konzerthaus, since the 2016/17 season he has given concerts with Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, SWR Symphony Orchestra, and musicAeterna.

Works by Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rameau, and Stravinsky released by Teodor Currentzis on Sony Classical record label have received numerous international music awards: ECHO Klassik, Edison Klassiek, Japanese Record Academy Award, and BBC Music Magazine’s Opera Award. Teodor Currentzis has received the Toepfer Foundation’s prestigious KAIROS Award. He has also been awarded the Greek Order of the Phoenix and the international Musikfest Bremen Award. 

In 2024, Teodor Currentzis launched his own record label, Theta, in collaboration with Outhere Music. The label is named after the Greek letter Θ (Theta), a nod to Currentzis’ Greek heritage. Theta is focused on recording the vast repertoire performed by his various ensembles, beginning with Utopia. The first releases are devoted to Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, both scheduled for 2025. These recordings were made during extensive sessions at the orchestra’s creative residence in Funkhaus Berlin, a studio complex renowned for its exceptional acoustics.

Utopia orchestra

The idea of Utopia emerged several years ago. Its point of departure is the simple truth that the willingness of musicians to devote themselves to serious preparatory and research work is just as important as musical mastery in order to achieve visionary artistic goals. Therefore, Utopia is not so much an orchestra in the conventional sense of the word, but rather a special creative community, a team of like-minded people with a shared musical ideology.

The musicians come together specifically to create each new programme. The cast of the orchestra varies depending on the instruments stipulated in the score. Musicians from dozens of countries take part in the project, such as Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, Ukraine, the USA, Venezuela, and many others.

The orchestra is funded with proceeds from concerts and supported by Kunst und Kultur DM Privatstiftung. Utopia also welcomes you to become part of our world by supporting us (soon).

Since its debut in October 2022, Utopia has already made its mark on the world’s largest concert halls, performing in venues like the Philharmonie Berlin, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie, the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, MÜPA Budapest, deSingel Antwerp, the Athens Concert Hall Megaron, the Isarphilharmonie in Munich, and Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome.

The orchestra’s repertoire spans centuries, encompassing both classical masterpieces and contemporary compositions. In 2023, Utopia made its Salzburg Festival debut with Purcell’s The Indian Queen and Mozart’s c-Moll Messe, returning in the summer of 2024 with a production of Mozart — Da Ponte’s Don Giovanni by Romeo Castellucci and Bach’s St Matthew Passion.

In 2023, Utopia became the resident orchestra of Funkhaus, one of the main music hubs in Berlin. It was built as a broadcasting centre for the Radio DDR, and today attracts a variety of musicians with its technical means and atmosphere. As part of their residency at the Funkhaus, the Utopia Orchestra and Choir conduct rehearsals, record CDs, perform symphonic and chamber concerts.

The recordings of Utopia are produced on Theta, a label co-founded by Teodor Currentzis and Outhere Music. The first EP, featuring a performance of the second part of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony, was released exclusively on Apple Music in the fall of 2024.

In winter 2025, the Utopia Orchestra and Choir conducted by Teodor Currentzis will participate in Peter Sellars’s production of Castor et Pollux at the Paris Opera. Also, in 2025 the orchestra will present Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Alexandre Kantorow performing the solo part.