Austrian conductor and composer Kai Johannes Polzhofer was a finalist of Only Stage Conducting Competition 2022, and semi-finalist of Kussewitzky Conducting Competition 2021, and has been engaged as conductor at State Opera Munich. He worked in the past with members of Deutsche Oper Berlin and Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, the Århus Symphony Orchestra, South Denmark Philharmonic, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg Opera and Ballet Theatre, and with soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre Petersburg. He assisted a.o. conductors Ilan Volkov, Fabio Luisi, Leonid Grin and Thomas Søndergård.
Polzhofer graduated with honor in composition and philosophy from Musikhochschule Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Leipzig and University Leipzig and studied orchestra and operatic conducting at the prestigious Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory Saint Petersburg as last student of Alexander Alexeev.
2020 he was selected for the National soloist program of Denmark under the guidance of conductors Per-Otto Johansson and Michael Schønwandt. Polzhofer has initiated new cultural platforms and is founder of the Du Bois Orchestra at Harvard (fighting racism and gender discrimination through classical music), as well initiator and artistic advisor of forma Leipzig (fostering dialogue between contemporary music and literature). Polzhofer received a Deutschlandstipendium and was awarded a full scholarship from Harvard University allowing him to obtain his Doctorate. He is supported by the Monsignore Fellerer Arts Foundation and the Stiftunglife Foundation.