Bio
Klaas-Jan de Groot is a Dutch conductor and chorus master. Since the beginning of the season 2022-2023 he is the chorus director of the Aalto-Theater in Essen. He regularly works with the Netherlands Radio Chorus (Groot Omroepkoor). He has been assistant chorus master at the Bayreuther Festspiele every year since 2018. Klaas-Jan de Groot has been assistant chorus master with Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam from 2016-2022. Besides assisting Ching-Lien Wu he also prepared the DNO chorus for several productions and projects. He conducted various concerts/performances with Opera Zuid as well as the Orchestra of the 18th Century. In May 2023 he made his debut with the NDR Vokalensemble in Hamburg, in 2024 with the MDR Chor and the Rundfunkchor Berlin. From season 2025-2026 onwards he will be the new chorus director of Opernhaus Zürich.
Full biography:
Klaas-Jan de Groot (b. 1993) started his musical path at a young age as a boy soprano in the Kampen Boys Choir. At the same time, he received piano and organ lessons. After his studies at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague (NL) and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (UK), he began working as a professional conductor and chorus master.
From 2016 until 2022, Klaas-Jan was assistant chorus master at the Dutch National Opera, assisting Ching-Lien Wu. He has assisted on numerous productions, including major operas by Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner. With the DNO chorus, he has also been the chorus master for various opera productions and other choral projects. In the 2022-2023 season, Klaas-Jan was chorus master at Dutch National Opera for the world premiere of Eurydice by Manfred Trojahn, a revival of Don Giovanni, and new productions of Anna Bolena and Tosca.
As a guest chorus master, Klaas-Jan has prepared the Netherlands Radio Chorus (Groot Omroepkoor) for performances of Nabucco, Semiramide, Il piccolo Marat, Jenufa, Fedora, Kullervo, Norma, Beethoven 9, Bruckner's Mass in f minor, and La Damnation de Faust at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht.
In the summers of 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 Klaas-Jan worked as assistant chorus master at the Bayreuther Festspiele on all Wagner operas.
With the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Klaas-Jan was assistant conductor for semi-staged performances of Don Giovanni (2019) and Der Schauspieldirektor (2021). For the latter, he also conducted one performance in the concert hall in Zwolle.
At Opera Zuid (Maastricht), Klaas-Jan worked on many productions as chorus master and assistant conductor. Here, he also conducted several performances (Un ballo in maschera and Fantasio) with the orchestra of Philharmonie Zuid-Nederland.
In 2020-2021, Klaas-Jan prepared the Rotterdam Symphony Chorus for two livestreams of Beethoven IX and Bach's Matthäus Passion.
In 2021, Klaas-Jan was awarded the prestigious conducting prize from the Anton Kersjesfonds, a bursary to further support his development and career.
In 2022, Klaas-Jan joined the Aalto-Theater in Essen as their principal chorus director. He prepared the chorus for many new productions, revivals, and concerts. During this time, the chorus received a lot of praise in reviews. In June 2024, the chorus was awarded the 'Aalto Bühnenpreis' as recognition of their achievements.
In 2023, he made his debut with the NDR Vokalensemble in Hamburg, and in 2024 with the MDR Chor in Leipzig and the Rundfunkchor Berlin.
