Georg Köhler is the Runnicles Fellow of the Dresden Philharmonic for the 2026/27 season and has held the post of Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Zurich Academic Chamber Orchestra since 2023.
Current highlights include, alongside several engagements with the Dresden Philharmonic, return invitations to conduct orchestras such as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France and the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen. He will make his debut with the Loh Orchestra Sondershausen and the Bavarian Chamber Orchestra Bad Brückenau.
Georg Köhler was Assistant Conductor of the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France from 2021 to 2023 and first gained international attention as a prize-winner at the 2023 Mahler Competition. Since then, engagements have taken him to the Staatskapelle Dresden, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, the Turku Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Dublin, amongst others. Köhler studied at the conservatoires in Stuttgart and Zurich, graduating ‘with distinction’ under Johannes Schlaefli. He gained formative insights through masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, Esa-Pekka Salonen and David Zinman.