With his Teatro Real Madrid debut in May 2018, Michael Zlabinger made history as the youngest conductor of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten, having previously assisted with productions at the Salzburg Festival (2012), Zurich Opera House (2013) and Teatro alla Scala di Milano (2015). This career milestone continued his consistent engagement with the opera of the 20th century, which had already been reflected in his work on Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Vienna State Opera (2015), Salome at the Teatro Carlo Felice (2016) and Elektra at the opening of the new opera house in Athens (2017).
The season 21/22, he successfully completed a series of guest performances of Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire at the Holland Festival together with the Klangforum Vienna and under the direction of Marlene Monteiro Freitas, followed by a production of Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse at the Wiener Kammeroper and a broadcast with the Munich Radio Orchestra. Upcoming engagements include a concert series with festival:philharmonie Westfalen and a production of Richard Strauss’ Salome at the Festival international d’art lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence. In January 2022, he made his Theater an der Wien debut conducting Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca.
Since May 2022, Michael Zlabinger is chief conductor of festival:philharmonie westfalen.