A North Carolina native raised in Raleigh, Evan Rogister previously led the North Carolina Symphony in a 2014 special event concert. Violinist Hilary Hahn performed Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, on a program that included Weber's Overture to Oberon and Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony.
Evan Rogister, a dual citizen of the United States and Germany, is Principal Conductor of Washington National Opera (WNO) and The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. From 2018 to 2021, he has conducted Göteborg Opera’s first complete cycle of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. His multiyear collaboration with director Stephen Langridge culminated in a new production of Götterdämmerung, timed to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Gothenburg.
Additional highlights of Rogister’s 2021/22 season include Washington National Opera’s Come Home: A Celebration of Return—concerts marking WNO’s first live performances at The Kennedy Center since the beginning of the pandemic; a return to the Bolshoi Theatre to conduct a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin; and Bizet’s Carmen at The Kennedy Center, in a production by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. Zambello’s groundbreaking virtual reality experience of Beethoven’s Fidelio—created in collaboration with Rogister and the WNO Orchestra—will be released later this year.
Rogister’s recent symphonic projects include collaborations with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Washington D.C.), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee and Atlanta.
Rogister debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2017/18 season, conducting Mozart’s The Magic Flute. In addition to Der Ring des Nibelungen, he has conducted three other works by Wagner: Tannhäuser (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Rienzi (Deutsche Oper Berlin), and Lohengrin (Royal Swedish Opera). Recent operatic highlights also include Puccini’s La bohème at the Bolshoi Theatre and a collaboration with Peter Stein on Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Malmö Opera).
Follow, Poet, Rogister’s debut recording with Deutsche Grammophon, was released in 2015. The album features new works by the composer Mohammed Fairouz written for mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, with Rogister conducting the Ensemble LPR.
