Benjamin Reiners

Benjamin Reiners has been Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Schleswig-Holstein capital of Kiel and a board member of Theater Kiel AöR since the 2019/20 season. Prior to that, he had been Deputy General Music Director and First Kapellmeister at the Nationaltheater Mannheim starting in 2016. With celebrated concerts and opera productions – including Verdi’s Aida, Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Mendelssohn’s Elias – as well as a kaleidoscope of innovative music formats, the conducting of Benjamin Reiners evokes “pure euphoria” (Christian Strehk, Kieler Nachrichten) from the critical press and audiences alike.

As an “outstanding conducting talent in the exceptional category” (Gabor Halasz, Die Rheinpfalz), Benjamin Reiners is also high in demand as a guest conductor with, among others, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Oper Frankfurt, Oper Graz, the state theaters in Nuremberg and Darmstadt, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Duisburg Philharmonic, the State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate, the state orchestras in Darmstadt and Oldenburg and at the Brno International Music Festival.

His debut with the Munich Radio Orchestra was recorded by ARD-alpha, and his debut at the Rheingau Musik Festival in the summer of 2020 with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn was broadcast on Magenta TV. In addition, the young GMD can look back on successful collaborations with renowned artists and composers such as Frank Peter Zimmermann, Norbert Ernst, Michael Volle, Ana de la Vega, Bomsori Kim, Nils Mönkemeyer, Fabian Müller and the Hindemith Prize winner SJ Hanke.

Benjamin Reiners studied at the universities of music in Detmold and Cologne. His career as a conductor for the lyric stage led him seamlessly through positions as Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich and the Staatsoper Hannover to leading positions at the Nationaltheater Mannheim and the Theater Kiel.

Photography: Miina Jung