Kens Lui 1st Kapellmeister in Meiningen and Keuntae Park Associate Conductor in Timișoara
The two Eisler graduates Kens Lui and Keuntae Park from Prof Christian Ehwald's conducting class have taken up new positions with the Meiningen Court Orchestra and the Banat Philharmonic Orchestra Timișoara for the 2024/25 season.
Hong Kong-born conductor Kens Lui has been appointed 1st Kapellmeister of the Meiningen State Theatre Court Orchestra in Thuringia for the 2024/25 season. He studied orchestral conducting at the Eisler with Prof. Christian Ehwald, Prof. Hans-Dieter Baum and Prof. Alexander Vitlin. During his studies, he conducted the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Cottbus State Theatre and the Kammerakademie Potsdam, among others. As part of a ‘Forum Dirigieren’ scholarship, he was engaged as assistant conductor to Marie Jacquot at the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has been invited as a guest conductor by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ensemble Reflektor and the Neubrandenburger Philharmonie. Before taking up his new position as Kapellmeister at the theatre in Meiningen, he was second Kapellmeister at the Heidelberg Theatre and Orchestra from 2022 to 2024.
The South Korean pianist and conductor Keuntae Park, a graduate of Prof Christian Ehwald and Prof Alexander Vitlin's conducting class, has been Associate Conductor of the Banat Philharmonic Orchestra in Timișoara, one of Romania's leading orchestras, since this season. He previously gained conducting experience with renowned orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester, the Orchester der Komischen Oper Berlin, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, the Philharmonisches Orchester Cottbus, the Magdeburgische and Neubrandenburgische Philharmonien, the Göttinger Sinfonieorchester, the Brandenburger Sinfoniker, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Rumanian Chamber Orchestra, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Orchestra of the Opéra de Baugé and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Since the 2021/22 season, he has also been Deputy Director of the Neue Philharmonie Berlin.