Evan Rogister

Evan Rogister is Principal Conductor of Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. 

A dual citizen of the United States and Germany, Evan enjoys meaningful artistic partnerships on both sides of the Atlantic. From 2018 to 2021, Director Stephen Langridge and Rogister have collaborated on Göteborg Opera’s first-ever complete presentation of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.  In the fall of 2021, Rogister conducts Götterdämmerung, the culminating drama of Wagner’s epic cycle.

In the 2021-2022 season, Rogister also conducts a new production of Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theatre, directed by Francois Girard—debuts at the Dresden Semperoper—and leads Washington National Opera’s return to live performance in both a series of concerts and Francesca Zambello’s production of Bizet’s Carmen.   Highlights of recent seasons include Rogister’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera—conducting Mozart’s The Magic Flute—his Bolshoi Theatre debut leading a new production of Puccini’s La Bohème—multiple projects with l’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse—and leading the Birgit Nilsson Prize Concert in Stockholm with the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra.

Rogister’s recent symphonic project include concerts with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The North Carolina Symphony,  the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and The Juilliard Orchestra.

In addition to Der Ring des Nibelungen, Rogister’s recent operatic repertoire includes three other works by Wagner, Tannhäuser (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Rienzi (Deutsche Oper Berlin) and Lohengrin (Royal Swedish Opera), a collaboration with Peter Stein on a new production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (Malmö Opera), two new productions of Eugene Onegin (Royal Swedish Opera and Spoleto Festival USA), Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung in double bill (Göteborg Opera and Seattle Opera); Szymanowski’s King Roger (The Santa Fe Opera), Verdi’s Otello (Berlin and Luxembourg), André Previn’s Streetcar Named Desire (Chicago Lyric Opera and L.A. Opera) and season opening productions at the Kennedy Center of Verdi’s Aida and Bizet’s Carmen—which marked the beginning of Washington National Opera’s 60th Anniversary Season.

Rogister’s debut recording with Deutsche Grammophon, Follow, Poet, was released in January of 2015. The album features new works by the composer Mohammed Fairouz written for mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, with Rogister conducting the Ensemble LPR.