Biography
Born in Berlin, Marcus Merkel studied conducting, composition, piano and singing in Berlin. In his youth, he also trained as a jazz pianist and singer, as well as on the double bass and saxophone. He has won the German National Composition Competition four times, as well as the competition for the TU Graz festival fanfare. He attended courses with Gianluigi Gelmetti, among others, and assisted Christian Thielemann at the Bayreuth Festival. Marcus Merkel founded the Junge Philharmonie Berlin while still a student and has been its artistic director ever since. During this time, he also conducted a festival in Kyoto (Japan), led a conducting workshop for the education department of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and stepped in for Julien Salemkour in a production of "Le nozze di Figaro" in Rostock.
From the 2015/16 season onwards, he was engaged at the Graz Opera, first as a répétiteur with conducting duties and later as Kapellmeister, conducting over 40 performances per season, including Die Königskinder, Norma, Don Carlo, La forza del destino and Der fliegende Holländer. He was responsible for the musical preparation of new productions such as Die Fledermaus, Candide, Le nozze di Figaro and Les pêcheurs de perles. Highlights of his time in Graz included Ariadne auf Naxos in Amsterdam, preparing all of Beethoven's piano concertos with Rudolf Buchbinder, a Verdi Requiem in Berlin Cathedral, a concert performance of Fidelio with Sir Bryn Terfel, and a semi-staged Tosca with Kristine Opolais, Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier. He also founded the Junge Konzerte Graz, a series of concerts by young musicians for young audiences. To broaden his leadership skills, he also completed an MBA.
Since the 2022/23 season, Marcus Merkel has been principal conductor at Theater Koblenz, where he first appeared in April 2022 with a new production of Parsifal. His work there has included new productions of Der Freischütz, La traviata, Nixon in China, La clemenza di Tito, Hänsel und Gretel, Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Carlo, Der Ring an einem Abend and Madama Butterfly. In the 2026/27 season, he conducts the premieres of La bohème, Pelléas et Mélisande and Der Rosenkavalier in Koblenz, as well as performances of Les contes d'Hoffmann.
In 2022, he made his debut with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, and in the summer of 2023 he celebrated a great success in Graz with Carmen featuring Elīna Garanča, Ramón Vargas and Erwin Schrott. In the 2023/24 season, guest engagements took him to the Staatstheater Darmstadt for a symphony concert, to Berlin Cathedral for a Verdi Requiem, and to Graz for a concert version of Der Ring des Nibelungen with Klaus Florian Vogt and Michael Volle. In 2024/25, he returned to the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra for a symphony concert, made his debut at the Teatro Real Madrid in a gala with Ludovic Tézier, and at the Semperoper Dresden with a series of performances of Die Fledermaus. The 2025/26 season brought debuts with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Jena Philharmonic, the Erfurt Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bruckner Orchestra Linz.
In August 2026, Solo Musica released his album "Ewiger Morgen", recorded with baritone Rafael Fingerlos and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and featuring several of his own orchestrations.
The 2026/27 season centres on the Semperoper Dresden, where he conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden in Die Zauberflöte, the revival of Don Carlo and Die lustige Witwe. He opened the season with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra's Season Opening Gala with Fatma Said. In Linz, he appeared as a pianist at the Klangwolke and wrote an orchestration commissioned by the International Brucknerfest. In October 2026, he makes his debut at the Volkstheater Rostock in a symphony concert with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock.
September 2026.
