Axel Kober’s interpretations of a wide opera and concert repertoire grow on the basis of profound knowledge, enormous experience and a comprehensive musical sense into spheres of inspiring emotionality.

From 2009 to 2024 Axel Kober was General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg, where he set a distinctive course in a wide repertoire and continuously developed the house, orchestra and ensemble through his ideas and tireless commitment. Outstanding productions include Wozzeck, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Peter Grimes, Castor et Pollux, Kat’a Kabanova, the world premiere of Jörg Widmann’s Gesicht im Spiegel, a newly edited production of Tristan and Isolde as well as the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen released on CD in Spring 2021.

His work at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein was also highly appreciated by the two orchestras, which he also regularly conducted in concerts. The Duisburg Philharmonic further intensified the collaboration and appointed Kober as chief conductor in 2017, from 2019-2025 he was the GMD of the orchestra.

As guest conductor, Axel Kober built a special relationship with the Vienna State Opera, where he made his debut in 2016. In addition to his euphorically received Ring cycle in 2019 and the immediate re-invitation to further Ring cycles in 2022, he conducted there Hansel and Gretel, Der Rosenkavalier, Arabella, Fidelio, Mahler's 4th, Tosca and Turandot, Macbeth and Parsifal. In the 2025/26 season, he will return with Tannhäuser and Parsifal.

Further regular invitations lead him to the Bayreuth Festival, Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden and Opernhaus Zurich. In Tokyo, he conducted Keith Warner’s Tannhäuser, at the Teatro alla Scala Salome, at the Opéra National du Rhin he led a new production of Tristan und Isolde, at the Royal Danish Opera Kopenhagen Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In concerts Axel Kober conducted, among others, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester and RSO Prague.

In addition to his engagements in Vienna, the 2025/26 season will see Axel Kober’s returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Semperoper Dresden and Zurich Opera House. On the concert platform, he will perform, among others, with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and – at Vienna’s Musikverein – with the Bruckner Orchester Linz.

After studying conducting in Würzburg, first engagements took Axel Kober to Schwerin and Dortmund, before he became deputy, later acting GMD in Mannheim and music director of the Oper Leipzig, where he also regularly conducted concerts of the Gewandhausorchester.