After graduating from high school, Andreas Wolf initially pursued his scientific interests and studied electrical engineering, mathematics and physics, but then decided to follow his artistic inclinations and move to Munich to study at the Musikhochschule München.There he studied orchestral conducting with Prof. Hermann Michael and singing with Prof. Joseph Loibl, while receiving his pianistic training with Prof. Gitti Pirner.Sir Colin Davis, with whom he had the opportunity to work on various projects at the time, had a decisive influence on his musical development. During this time also gained further experience as a repetiteur at the Theater am Gärtnerplatz and as a chorister in the Bavarian State Opera Chorus. While still a student, he won the preliminary round of the Donatella Flick Competition and was invited to London for the final round.
After completing his Meisterklassendiplom, he then decided to pursue a career as a classical Kapellmeister and in the following years systematically developed an extensive repertoire from baroque to modern in opera and concert, which also includes film music.
He found his first position as a solo repetiteur with conducting duties at the then Schillertheater Nordrhein-Westfalen in Wuppertal. There he gained his first professional opera experience with “Hänsel und Gretel” and “I Capuleti e i Montecchi” and founded the Coll’arte Chamber Orchestra with musicians from the orchestra. Shortly afterwards he moved to the Städtische Bühnen Münster as 2nd Kapellmeister under Will Humburg, where he conducted a wide repertoire including Prokofiev’s “The Fiery Angel”, Verdi’s “Macbeth” and Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte”. His first guest conducting engagements during this time took him to Mendoza (Argentina) and Athens. This was followed by permanent engagements at the Staatstheater Kassel and the Hanover State Opera. In Kassel he received the special prize of the Fördergesellschaft Staatstheater Kassel “for his outstanding artistic achievements”. In Hanover, his musical direction of the ballet evening “Molière”, the premiere of Edward Rushton’s opera “Die fromme Helene” and Cavalli’s “La Calisto” attracted national attention. Unusually for a 2nd Kapellmeister at the time, he was also entrusted with works such as “Turandot”, “Tannhäuser” and “The Tales of Hoffmann”. Further positions then took him to the Staatstheater Saarbrücken as 1st Kapellmeister, where he conducted the German premiere of John Adams’ opera “Dr. Atomic”, among other works, and from 2013 to 2021 to the Theatre of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck as 1st Kapellmeister and deputy respectively acting General Music Director. In Lübeck, his productions of Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth”, Schreker’s “Der ferne Klang” and Milhaud’s “Christophe Colomb”, also attracted great international interest and consolidated his reputation as a specialist for the music of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
He has conducted concerts throughout Europe and Asia. His celebrated debuts in 2014 at Biwako Hall in Japan, in 2016 in Daegu in South Korea and in 2019 at Teatro Pisa in Italy and at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Since then he has become an extremely sought-after guest on the concert platform: Osaka Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Arché, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the National Theatre Mannheim, Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe and the Georgian Chamber Orchestra, and has worked with artists such as Arabella Steinbacher, Christiane Oelze, Detlev Roth and Götz Alsmann.
Since the 2021/22 season he is 1st Kapellmeister at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, where he celebrated great successes with the world premiere of Staud’s “Missing in cantu”, Glanert’s “Caligula” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Der goldene Hahn”, among others.
As an opera conductor, in addition to his musical work with soloists, chorus and orchestra, his special focus is on creating a unity of music and scenic events, also and especially including extra-musical aspects. This makes him a much sought-after partner of directors such as Jochen Biganzoli, Stephan Kimmig or Tilman Knabe. “Rarely does one come across a conductor who understands opera so much in the truest sense of the word as a total work of art and deals so intensively with the psychology of the characters.” (Tilman Knabe)
Reviews of his productions and concerts repeatedly speak of his dramatic approach, his stylistic diversity and his sense of sound. Among instrumentalists and singers, he has earned a reputation as a sensitive accompanist. Arabella Steinbacher once said of him: “His sensitive way of accompanying gave me every opportunity to freely shape my musical ideas.” And Christiane Oelze wrote after a joint concert with Brahms’ Requiem in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg: “Andreas Wolf is a singers-conductor. He feels, carries, breathes and is always concerned with the music, pursues his goal of a multi-layered, tonally balanced and touching performance with serene composure, and yet full of passion, without putting himself in the foreground […]”