Lothar Koenigs is Music Director of Welsh National Opera. Born in Aachen, Lothar studied piano and conducting at Cologne Conservatory.

Positions include First Guest Conductor, Orquesta Sinfonica de Chile; Kapellmeister in several German opera houses; General Music Director, Osnabrück until 2003.

Engagements include La bohème, Carmen, Eugene Onegin, The Magic Flute (Hamburg State Opera); Italian première Giorgio Battistelli’s Prova d´Orchestra (Rome Opera), Turandot (Sassari), Katya Kabanova (Teatro La Fenice Venice); Wozzeck, Janáček trilogy (Jenůfa, Katya Kabanova, Makropoulos Case), Lohengrin (Opéra de Lyon); led Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers (Ancona); Don Giovanni (Dresden); Idomeneo (Cologne); Der Freischutz (Semperoper Dresden); Khovanshchina (WNO; Bayerische Staatsoper); Jenůfa (La Scala); Don Giovanni (Vienna State Opera); Tosca (Teatro Sao Carlos Lisbon); led Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Radio Orchestra Saarbrücken, RAI Orchestra Turin, DSO Berlin, Orchestra dell´Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome, Rotterdam Philharmonic; at request of composer, conducted music by Luciano Berio with Orchestra Sinfonica de Sao Paulo; conducted Orchestra dell´Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), RAI Orchestra (Turin), Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin; toured with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Ben Heppner (Wagner programme); debut with Wiener Symphoniker (Bregenz Festival); concerts with RAI Orchestra in Milan, Dresden Philharmoniker in Verona; Krenek´s Karl V (Bregenz Festival).

In 2009/2010 he will conduct Katya Kabanova (Cologne); Don Giovanni (Metropolitan Opera); concerts at Teatro Massimo Palermo; Elektra (La Monnaie); Wozzeck (Bayerische Staatsoper); Tosca, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (WNO).