Christian Reif

German-born Christian Reif is Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. He started in the 2016/17 season following two years in Miami as Conducting Fellow with the New World Symphony, working closely with Michael Tilson Thomas.

In the 2018/19 season Reif will conduct Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 5 and the world premiere of Andrew Norman’s Cello Concerto with Johannes Moser as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, and a programme which includes works by Britten, Shostakovich and Haydn with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He makes his debuts with the Omaha Symphony and the HK Phil, and returns to work with the Nürnberger Symphoniker, Berkeley Symphony and San Francisco Conservatory. He will also conduct a production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at Opera San Jose and a new chamber version of John Adams’s El Niño with the American Modern Opera Company.

As part of his duties as Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, Reif regularly conducts the orchestra in performances including Hansel and Gretel, an Oktoberfest concert, and two Soundbox shows — the orchestra’s successful cutting-edge late-night series. Previous performance highlights include the Juilliard Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Meininger Hofkapelle, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg Chamber Soloists and the Munich Chamber Opera in performances of Mozart’s La finta semplice.