Matthias Pintscher

Matthias Pintscher is a German conductor and composer who appears widely with major orchestras, pairing core symphonic works with music by Berio, Varèse, Scriabin, and Neuwirth. Listeners can expect thoughtfully built programs that place 20th and 21st century pieces alongside Romantic and Classical staples, led by a musician who also writes concert music himself.

Pintscher's programs tend to juxtapose sharply colored, texturally complex 20th century works with canonic repertoire, inviting listeners to hear both in a new light. Expect exacting attention to orchestral color and balance, since he comes to conducting also as a composer accustomed to hearing every instrumental strand distinctly. In pieces like Varèse's Deserts or Scriabin's Prometheus, listen for how he lets dense or unusual sonorities (like the use of choir or unconventional percussion) register clearly rather than blur together. In big narrative works such as Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring or Holst's The Planets, he tends to favor propulsive rhythmic drive and vivid contrasts between movements. When leading Romantic works like Brahms's German Requiem or Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, expect a conductor who shapes long paragraphs of music patiently rather than rushing toward climaxes.