Opera Ballet Vlaanderen has announced the appointment of Stephan Zilias as its next Music Director, beginning in September 2026. He will succeed Alejo Pérez, who led the company for six seasons before stepping down earlier this year to become Director Titular of the Orquesta Estable del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Zilias has served since 2020 as General Music Director of the Hanover State Opera. He has conducted a broad repertoire spanning Wagner’s Lohengrin, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and Parsifal, Boito’s Mefistofele, and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, alongside 20th-century and modern works such as Reimann’s Lear and Martinů’s The Greek Passion. His leadership there earned the house recognition at the OPER! Awards and frequent nominations in Opernwelt magazine.
Before his tenure in Hanover, Zilias was Kapellmeister and assistant to Sir Donald Runnicles at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he later returned as a guest conductor for Fidelio, Madama Butterfly, Oceane by Detlev Glanert, and Rued Langgaard’s Antikrist. He has also appeared with the Leipzig Opera, Prague State Opera, Savonlinna Festival, and Theater an der Wien, where he is currently preparing Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland.
A pianist by training, Zilias studied in Cologne, Düsseldorf, and London, and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. On the concert platform, he has worked with ensembles including the Staatsorchester Nürnberg, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, and Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of the Netherlands, performing repertoire that ranges from Haydn and Schumann to Dutilleux and new commissions.
Zilias previously collaborated with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz, directed by Christoph Marthaler, a production noted for its bold reinterpretation and strong musical direction.
In a statement released by the company, Zilias said he was looking forward to “continuing to explore new musical perspectives” with the orchestra, choir, and creative teams. OBV’s artistic director Jan Vandenhouwe described the appointment as aligned with the company’s aim to “combine tradition with innovation.”
Zilias will remain with the Staatsoper Hannover until August 2026 before taking up his new post in Antwerp and Ghent.
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