Ulf Schirmer was born in Eschenhausen near Bremen and studied at the municipal conservatory as well as at the School of Music and Drama in Hamburg under György Ligeti, Christoph von Dohnányi and Horst Stein. He was Lorin Maazel’s assistant and at Vienna State Opera he conducted premiere performances of Berio’s Un Re in ascolto, Erwartung, Raimonda and Die Entführung aus dem Serail. From 1988 to 1991 he was general music director in Wiesbaden and artistic director of the symphony concerts at the State Theatre of Hessen. In 1991 he became conductor in residence at Vienna State Opera, where in later years he acted as consultant. From 1995 to 1998 he was chief conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2000, Ulf Schirmer was appointed professor for musical analysis and music dramaturgy at the Hamburg School of Music and Drama. Since 2006, Ulf Schirmer has been artistic director of the Munich Radio Orchestra. As a concert conductor he has worked with the Vienna and the Berlin philharmonic orchestras, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He has had a number of engagements with the Bregenz Festival, the Salzburg Festival, Graz Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opéra Bastille, La Scala Milan, in Tokyo, Geneva and Israel. He has garnered praise for his conducting of a number of operas by Richard Strauss and Richard Wagner, as well as Carmen, La Bohème, Nabucco, Fidelio, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, The Greek Passion, Lulu, Die Vögel and also with the world premiere of Tod und Teufel by Gerd Kühr. Since 2009 he has been general music director at Leipzig Opera, of which he will become the artistic director from the 2011/12 season.