Jan Latham-Koenig

Jan Latham-Koenig was born in London on 15 December 1953 and is an English conductor and pianist. He studied conducting at the Royal College of Music with Norman Del Mar and piano with Kendall Taylor and Lamar Crowson. Until 1981 he performed both as a pianist and as a conductor, after which he devoted almost entirely himself to the podium.

In 1976 he founded the Koenig Ensemble, an orchestra of flexible size and eclectic repertoire. He was a guest conductor with major London and regional orchestras, frequently conducted abroad, and was part of the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano between 1981 and 1986. As an opera conductor, he made his debut in 1985 with La bohème at the Royal Opera, in 1987 with Tosca at the ENO and in 1988 with Macbeth at the Vienna State Opera.

In 1988 he premiered Bussotti's L'ispirazione in Florence and Fedra in Rome, and he recorded a cycle of Weill's operas and cantatas for WDR. Between 1989 and 1992 he was music director of the Orquestra Clássica do Porto, which was created on the initiative of the Portuguese government. In 1997 he was appointed music director of the Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg and of the city's philharmonic orchestra.