Opera News“From the first measures of the prelude, it was clear that Evan Rogister would lead a stylish account of the score. Unhurried in the most lyrical moments, the conductor’s attention to phrasing and dynamics nonetheless kept the music flowing vibrantly. He whipped up energy just as persuasively, building to climactic peaks with taut control, and drew impressive playing from the orchestra throughout.”
Chicago Classical Review“The third impressive debut of the evening was conductor Evan Rogister. Unlike many opera batonsmiths, the young American started his career as a singer, which was manifest in his alert and sensitive accompaniment to the cast and impeccable balancing, conveying Verdian fire while drawing an array of hues and dynamic subtleties. Rogister will also lead the Lyric’s March-April performances of Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, and is clearly a young talent on the rise.”
Chicago Tribune“The opera, a co-production with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, receives a worthy performance from Daniels and colleagues under the talented young conductor Evan Rogister, who scored twin successes last season at Lyric Opera.”
The New York Times“The conductor Evan Rogister had a great night, performing the three-act work [King Roger] without an intermission. He drew nuanced and voluptuous playing from the Santa Fe Opera orchestra.”
Santa Fe Reporter“This vibrant young conductor, making his SFO debut here, knows his way around Szymanowski’s challenging score. He’s alert to every nuance, doesn’t overplay the work’s exoticism, coaxes wonderful detail work from the SFO’s never-better orchestra and provides some of the most shattering climaxes ever to emerge from the local pit.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel“Guest conductor Evan Rogister led the orchestra through Tchaikovsky’s deeply expressive Serenade for Strings, Sibelius’ broad, stirring Symphony No. 2 and Arutiunian’s powerful Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, featuring MSO principal trumpeter Mark Niehaus. Rogister and the players gave elegant shape to the Tchaikovsky, filling the piece with graceful interpretive details.”
Seattle Post Intelligencer“The last factor is the conductor, without whom many of the effects of the production would fail. Evan Rogister, in his house debut, made the orchestra sound like another — electrifying with total attention to detail. He had the idiom of both composers in hand.”
Evan Rogister is Principal Conductor of Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. A dual citizen of the United States and Germany, Rogister enjoys meaningful artistic partnerships on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the summer of 2023 Rogister makes his Glyndebourne Festival debut, conducting the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, directed by Mariame Clément. Additional highlights of the 22/23 season include Rogister’s debut at the Dresden Semperoper, leading Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and a new production of Richard Strauss’s Elektra at the Kennedy Center, directed by Francesca Zambello. Committed to fostering new work, Rogister leads performances of WNO’s American Opera Initiative in 2023, featuring three premieres by emerging composers and librettists.
Rogister made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the 2017/2018 season, conducting Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and he returns to the MET in future seasons.
From 2018 to 2022, Rogister conducted Göteborg Opera’s first complete cycle of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. The multiyear collaboration with director Stephen Langridge culminated in a new production of Götterdämmerung in the 21/22 season, timed to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Gothenburg.
Equally at home on the concert stage as in the pit, this fall Rogister conducts subscription concerts with the Essen Philharmoniker. Recent symphonic projects include collaborations with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, l’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington D.C.), the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Bochum Symphoniker, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to Der Ring des Nibelungen, Rogister has conducted three other works by Wagner, Tannhäuser (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Rienzi (Deutsche Oper Berlin) and Lohengrin (Royal Swedish Opera). Recent operatic highlights include new productions of Puccini’s La bohème and Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theatre, a collaboration with Peter Stein on a new production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Malmö Opera), two new productions of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Royal Swedish Opera and Spoleto Festival USA), Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung in double bill (Göteborg Opera and Seattle Opera); Szymanowski’s King Roger (The Santa Fe Opera), Verdi’s Otello (Berlin and Luxembourg), André Previn’s Streetcar Named Desire (Chicago Lyric Opera and L.A. Opera) and season opening productions at the Kennedy Center of Verdi’s Aida, Bizet’s Carmen and Come Home—a series of concerts marking Washington National Opera’s return to live performance at the Kennedy Center.
Rogister’s debut recording with Deutsche Grammophon, Follow, Poet, was released in January of 2015. The album features new works by the composer Mohammed Fairouz written for mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, with Rogister conducting the Ensemble LPR.
NOVEMBER 2022
