Killian Farrell

“…the ensembles and the orchestral colours… blossomed with even greater nuance under Killian Farrell. With him, the flood of sound became a lucid seascape that one hopes will finally be included in the general repertoire in the future.”
Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, November 2024 (The Wreckers, Staatstheater Meiningen)

Generalmusikdirektor: Staatstheater Meiningen

Described as ‘a firework of drama and poetry’ by Neue Musikzeitung, conductor Killian Farrell, Generalmusikdirektor at Staatstheater Meiningen, began his career at Theater Bremen, serving as First Kapellmeister and conducting a range of repertoire including new productions of Die Zauberflöte and Wolfgang Rihm’s Jakob Lenz, alongside performances of Der Rosenkavalier, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Alcina, Rusalka, and Fidelio. Farrell also held the position of First Kapellmeister at Staatsoper Stuttgart, where he conducted works including Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges.

The upcoming season brings Farrell to Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Deutsche Oper am Rhein for productions of Dido and Aeneas & The Lighthouse, among other engagements. In the opera house, he conducts the Meininger Hofkapelle in productions of The Wreckers (the German premiere of its unabridged original version), Don Carlos, Tristan und Isolde and Don Giovanni.

The 2023/24 season took Farrell to the Stuttgarter Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Irish National Opera, and the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and included concert engagements with National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, and Georgian Chamber Orchestra.

Farrell served as a Conducting Fellow at Tanglewood Music Centre in 2019, conducting their orchestra and receiving guidance from conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Thomas Adés, and Giancarlo Guerrero. He is a former Young Artist at the National Opera Studio, a Britten-Pears Young Artist, and an alumnus of the prestigious Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. A former member of the German Conductors’ Forum, he was awarded a scholarship from the Bryden Thomson Trust.

Farrell comes from Dublin, Ireland, and is a former Deputy Head Chorister of Dublin’s Palestrina Choir. He made his professional conducting debut at 17 with Bach’s St.John Passion. He studied conducting, piano, and organ at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama and read musicology at Trinity College Dublin.

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Season Highlights

April 2025

Vatroslav Lisinski Concert and Congress Hall

Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra

Repertoire:

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: St. John Passion, BWV 245

May 2025

Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe

Repertoire:

RICHARD STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59

August 2025

Ulster Hall

Repertoire:

Schumann / Overture, Scherzo and Finale

Hamilton Harty / With the Wild Geese

Dvorak / Carnival Overture

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Overture, Scherzo and Finale

HAMILTON HARTY: With the Wild Geese

ANTONIN DVORAK: Overture for Carnival, Op. 92

Killian Farrell Carmen Overture Südwestrundfunk © SWR Kultur

Killian Farrell, Chabriel, Südwestrundfunk © SWR Kultur

Killian Farrell, von Weber Overture, Südwestrundfunk © SWR Kultur

Killian Farrell and Irish Chamber Orchestra, February 2024: Stones of Life: Sergei Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 © Irish Chamber Orchestra

Killian Farrell and Irish Chamber Orchestra, February 2024: Stones of Life: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 41 in C major, K551 (second movement) © ISO - Filmed by: Dominic Kosicki; Sound recording by Paul Ashe Browne

“At the centre of a successful premiere evening is Killian Farrell. The young firebrand inspires everyone, carrying not only the performers along, but also the audience.”
(O‑Ton, Georg Beck, February 2025)

O-Ton, February 2025

“…Killian Farrell also triumphs, masterfully conducting the evening from the conductor’s podium with disarming musicality.”

Rheinische Post, February 2025

“Killian Farrell, conducting the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra’s Dido and Aeneas, makes a dramatic musical transition from the first part with a precisely playing continuo group, immersing himself with absolute sensitivity in the delicate Baroque sounds.”

Omm.de, February 2025

“…Killian Farrell shows a transparent severity in unusually bright and clear colours… [the] orchestra holds its own with excellent balance and noble distinction […] and in doing so develops a dazzling spectrum of detail with the singers, who are excellently led by Farrell.”

(CONCERTI MAGAZINE, September 2024) (Verdi: Don Carlos)

“…He took it by storm, grippingly but without excessive pathos, delicately with a sense of subtlety … Farrell is a stroke of luck for Meiningen.”

(FREIES WORT, September 2024) (Verdi: Don Carlos)

“… Farrell […] ignites a magnificent frenzy within the orchestra.”

(SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, September 2024) (Verdi: Don Carlos)

“Twenty minutes before the start of the performance, Farrell is still sitting at the grand piano in the foyer to explain to the audience in a fantastically engaging “introduction to the work” how Verdi’s leitmotifs differ from those of other composers. Shortly afterwards, he is standing in the orchestra pit. Light and shadow arrange as if by themselves in the finely graded wind and string colours of the Meiningen court orchestra.”

(VAN MAGAZIN, September 2024) (Verdi: Don Carlos)

“He has a sure sense of the tempo of the evening, leaving enough space for the quiet moments to drive the orchestra and soloists into a mad frenzy in the turbulent scenes…”

(MDR MITTELDEUTSCHLANDRADIO, October 2023) (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro)