Kyrian Friedenberg
Download Assets
American Canadian conductor Kyrian Friedenberg came to international attention after winning the 2022 Neeme Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. He has since been recognized with Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards in 2024 and 2025. In 2025, he was a Grand Finalist in the 59th Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors and was in residence with the Vienna Philharmonic as the 2025 AAF/Faber Conductor Fellow at the Salzburg Festival. He then served as Assistant Conductor of the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Philharmonie de Paris from 2024 – 26, working closely with Pierre Bleuse.
In the 2026/27 season, Kyrian debuts with SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, Deutsche StaatsphilharmonieRheinland-Pfalz, MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Orchestre National d’Avignon-Provence and Orchestre de l’Opéra de Normandie Rouen. He will also return to Orchestre National du Capitolede Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and l’OrchestreNational de Cannes and will conduct Don Giovanni with Opéra de Toulon.
See More
In the previous season, Friedenberg made a notable debut with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Choeur de Radio France for the opening of the Présences Festival. He made several other major debuts, with Les Violons du Roy in a play-conduct program in Quebec City and Montreal, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. He also assisted Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Conductor on a 13-concert tour of Europe, and assisted Leonardo García-Alarcón at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
Kyrian led such orchestras as Orchestra della Toscana, Orchestre National de Metz, Orchestre National d’Île-de-France in the Grande Salle Pierre Boulez at the Philharmonie de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice and Opéra de Bordeaux. He did a residency at the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Verdi’s Rigoletto. With the Ensemble intercontemporain, he assisted Pierre Bleuse in the Grand Soir Edgard Varèse, leading rehearsals for Amériques and Arcana, and in Boulez’s Répons to open the Philharmonie’s Boulez Centenary. He also assisted Matthias Pintscher and l’Orchestre National de France at the Festival Présences.
Kyrian Friedenberg studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Alain Altinoglu, and has participated in the Gstaad Conducting Academy (2022) and the Accademia Chigiana (2023), working closely with Jaap van Zweden and Daniele Gatti. He has also taken part in masterclasses with Mikko Franck, Johannes Schlaefli, Baldur Brönnimann, Alexandre Bloch and others. He currently studies Baroque conducting and Maestro al cembalo with Leonardo García-Alarcón part-time at the Haute École de Musique de Genève.
Before turning to conducting, Kyrian worked as a professional actor, appearing in 332 performances of the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone (dir. Arthur Laurents), as well as in several Off- and Off-Off-Broadway productions, including a lead role in Ron Hirsen’s Frugal Repast at the Abingdon Theater in Manhattan. He also performed widely as a boy soprano, singing title roles in Nico Muhly’s Two Boys, Peter Ash’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors.
Originally from New York City, Kyrian holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from McGill University and now resides in Paris.
