Rainer
Mühlbach

Rainer Mühlbach studied piano and conducting at the Hochschule Carl Maria von Weber in his native city of Dresden. After working as an assistant to Leonard Bernstein, he initially held positions as a répétiteur with conducting duties at the Semperoper Dresden, Theater Basel and the Hamburg State Opera.

From 1995 to 2000, he served as First Kapellmeister at Theater Bremen. There he conducted, among others, “Idomeneo”, “Fidelio”, “Otello”, “Der fliegende Holländer”, “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”, “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Ariadne auf Naxos”. At the Semperoper Dresden, he conducted several productions from the opera repertoire and a number of ballet premieres, Mozart’s Da Ponte operas as well as “Die Zauberflöte”, “Carmen” and “Hänsel und Gretel”. Oper Köln invited him to conduct revivals of “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”, “Die Zauberflöte”, “Don Giovanni” and “La Cenerentola”, as well as the new production of “Dialogues des Carmélites”.

He also appeared as a guest conductor for the new production of Bizet’s “Carmen” at Theater Basel, as well as at the Nationaltheater Weimar, Aalto-Musiktheater Essen, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Oper Graz and Opéra de Paris. At the Hamburg State Opera, he conducted, among others, the premieres of John Neumeier’s ballet creations “Bernstein Dances” and “Nijinsky”. Guest performances of these productions took him to Baden-Baden, Lincoln Center in New York, Copenhagen, Washington and Madrid.

He has also conducted the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Dresdner Philharmoniker, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Madrid, the Royal Danish Orchestra, the Washington National Opera Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the NDR Symphony Orchestra.

In addition, Rainer Mühlbach also appears in cabaret formats, including Georg Kreisler’s “Heute Abend: Lola Blau” and “Adam Schaf hat Angst”, as well as as pianist of the “Comedian Harmonists”.

From 2004 to 2007, Mühlbach was General Music Director of the City of Münster, where he conducted new productions including “Lohengrin”, “Halka” (Moniuszko), “Fidelio”, “Otello” and “Don Giovanni”.

At Oper Köln, Rainer Mühlbach has been Director of the International Opera Studio since the 2012/13 season and Music Director of the Kinderoper Köln. Projects for the Kinderoper included the development of versions of Wagner’s cycle “Der Ring des Nibelungen für Jung und Alt” (premiere of “Das Rheingold” in autumn 2017, concluding with “Götterdämmerung” in spring 2021). These productions were part of the “Best Education Programme of German-speaking Theatres”, which received the OPER! Award in 2019, and were invited to Korea in 2022.

In the 2016/17 season, he conducted Schoenberg’s “Pierrot lunaire” (director: Kai Anne Schuhmacher) as part of the Kölner Theaternacht. In the following season, Mühlbach was Music Director of the productions “Der Kaiser von Atlantis” by Viktor Ullmann, Benjamin Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” and the children’s opera “Pollicino” by Hans Werner Henze, which Oper Köln and Kinderoper Köln staged in collaboration with more than 80 pupils from the Rheinische Musikschule Köln and the Musik-Gymnasium.

In the 2018/19 season, Mühlbach created further adaptations for the Kinderoper Köln of Offenbach’s “Hoffmanns Erzählungen”, Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte für Kinder” and Stravinsky’s “Die Nachtigall”. In 2019/20, he conducted Hanke’s children’s opera “Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren”.

Mühlbach has also served as Music Director for many original compositions, including the world premiere of “Die Geschichte vom Fuchs, der den Verstand verlor” (music by Johannes Wulff-Woesten, libretto by Martin Baltscheit), which was commissioned to mark the 25th anniversary of the Kinderoper Köln in 2021. In the 2021/22 season, he also conducted Orff’s “Die Kluge” and Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte”. In spring 2022, Mühlbach conducted a new production of Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” at Oper Köln.

In the 2022/23 season, he once again conducted Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” and “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”. For the Kinderoper, he conducted the German premiere of Lange’s “Der Gesang der Zauberinsel” as well as Hanke’s “Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren”. The 2023/24 season saw the world premiere of Sendil’s “Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten” as well as Eröd’s “Pünktchen und Anton”.

In 2024/25, he once again served as Music Director for the Kinderoper productions of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte für Jung und Alt” and Sendil’s “Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten”. He also conducted the community opera “Superheldennormalos”.

In the 2025/26 season, he conducted Naske’s children’s opera “Der Wunschpunsch”, “Freikugeln” and Kverndokk’s “Max und Moritz”. During the same season, he was awarded the Offenbachpreis by the Freunde der Kölner Oper e. V. in recognition of his outstanding artistic achievements.

In the 2026/27 season, he will serve as Music Director of “Der König verschenkt was”, a work commissioned from Cologne-based composer Philipp Matthias Kaufmann and award-winning author Martin Baltscheit, which will receive its world premiere on 10 October 2026 on the stage of the newly built, unique Kinderoper at Offenbachplatz.