• Source: Anna Handler

Anna Isabella Handler (born 16 April 1996 in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France) is a German conductor and concert pianist. She was a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2023–2024 season. In September 2024, Handler began—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. Video on YouTube (13:42 min)
Giuseppe Verdi: La forza del destino, Overture. Allegra Festival & Academy, conducted by Anna Handler, Bulgaria Hall, Sofia, July 22, 2022. Video on YouTube (9:00 min)
Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45. Anna Handler (piano), Laura Handler (violin). Siemensvilla, Berlin, 2021. Video on YouTube (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. Video on YouTube (6:01 min)
Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 9. Anna Handler (piano). Siemensvilla Berlin, 2021. Video on YouTube (19:09 min)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 1st movement (allegro). Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler (piano). München, 2019. Video on YouTube (11:17 min)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 2nd movement (adagio). Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler (piano). München, 2019. Video on YouTube (5:52 min)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 3rd movement (allegro). Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler (piano). München, 2019. Video on YouTube (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


What is most captivating is the expressiveness of her playing and her impressive presence, which makes her always the center of the action; she lives "her" music. "Her" is intentionally chosen because she makes the music entirely her own. She never just delivers it, but brings it to life. Stylistically she has absolute confidence; her personal cadenza in the Mozart concerto and her sovereign conducting from the piano clearly prove that.
If you would like to see what is possible in terms of direct communication between an orchestra and its conductor, you must listen the Ensemble Enigma Classica under its founder Anna Handler. Every encouraging smile, every sharp look, every stimulating gesture leads to immediately audible consequences from the excellent young musicians, who pay attention to their boss as if hypnotised. The conductor who grew up in Munich, not yet in her mid-twenties, is infinitely more than a motivational coach: her conducting technique is impeccable.




External links


Official Website of Anna Handler
Anna Handler at Operabase
Anna Handler: Appreciation on YouTube, TV UNAM, Mexico, June 2023 (Interview; Spanish with English subtitles)
Anna Handler: Conversando on YouTube, Amigos OFUNAM, 2022 (Interview; Spanish)




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