Anna Handler

Anna Isabella Handler (born 16 April 1996 in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France) is a German conductor and concert pianist. She is a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2023–2024 season. From September 2024, Handler will begin—appointed by Andris Nelsons—her tenure as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), making her BSO debut at Tanglewood in 2025.

Education
Anna Handler was born to a German father and a Colombian mother in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where her parents worked as engineers. She grew up in Munich, Germany, together with her younger sister, with whom she initially formed a singing duo. She studied piano and conducting with Ingrid Fliter at the Accademia Pianistica di Imola, with Adrian Oetiker at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, with Henri Sigfridsson at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, with Nicolás Pasquet and Ekhart Wycik at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, and with Pavel Gililov at the Musikakademie in Liechtenstein.

Handler graduated from the Juilliard School in May 2023 where she received mentorship from David Robertson and was the proud recipient of the Juilliard Kovner Fellowship for outstanding students of classical music. She was the first conductor ever to receive this.

Professional career
Following her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2022 as musical director of the Káťa Kabanová opera camp, Handler was immediately re-engaged to conduct new productions of Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges (2023) and Orff's Die Kluge (2024). Further 2023–2024 highlights include her debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra and North Carolina Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Grazer Philharmoniker and Munich Radio Orchestra. The 2022/2023 season saw her debut with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein, OFUNAM Orchestra Filarmónica de la UNAM in Mexico, and Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle in Schwerin.

Handler has assisted distinguished conductors such as Kirill Petrenko, including conducting the Banda for the concert opera production "Mazeppa" with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Daniel Harding (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks), Barbara Hannigan (LSO, Munich Philharmonic); as well as Manfred Honeck, Mei-Ann Chen, and Simone Young. At the Bayerische Staatsoper, she assisted Oksana Lyniv and took over the musical direction of the production "Eve and Adam", premiered as part of the 2019 Munich Opera Festival.

As founder and director of the ensemble Enigma Classica, Handler has collaborated with notable soloists including Arabella Steinbacher, Daniel Müller-Schott, Sabine Meyer and her sister, violinist Laura Handler, with whom she forms a successful instrumental duo. Together with her team at Enigma Classica, Handler presented an interdisciplinary project on music education, featuring real-time generative video animation at the Young Artist Festival Bayreuth in August 2022. She was awarded the "Maria Ladenburger Förderpreis" in cooperation with WDR, the "Cusanuswerk Foundation", and Deutsche Grammophon. She has also received the "Rising Star Award" from the European Cultural Foundation Europamusicale.

Video Recordings

 * Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus (Overture), Johannes Brahms: Tragic Overture, Zoltán Kodály: Dances of Galánta, Finale. The Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Anna Handler. Alice Tully Hall, New York 2022/2023. (13:42 min)
 * Giuseppe Verdi: La forza del destino, Overture. Allegra Festival & Academy, conducted by Anna Handler, Bulgaria Hall, Sofia, July 22, 2022. (9:00 min)
 * Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45. Anna Handler (piano), Laura Handler (violin). Siemensvilla, Berlin, 2021. (15:53 min)
 * Antonín Dvořák: Silent Woods for cello and orchestra, Op. 68/5. Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler (piano), Laura Moinian (cello). München, 2021. (6:01 min)
 * Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 9. Anna Handler (piano). Siemensvilla Berlin, 2021. (19:09 min)
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 1st movement (allegro). Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler (piano). München, 2019. (11:17 min)
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 2nd movement (adagio). Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler (piano). München, 2019. (5:52 min)
 * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 3rd movement (allegro). Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler (piano). München, 2019. (8:14 min)

Awards

 * 2023: Juilliard Kovner Fellowship for outstanding students of classical music
 * 2020: Maria-Ladenburger-Förderpreis
 * 2019: "Rising Star Award" from the European Cultural Foundation Europamusicale
 * 2018: Prizewinner of the International Hans von Bülow Competition in the discipline "Conducting from the piano"

Reception
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