Pedro Halffter, born in Madrid, is currently artistic director of the Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla. One artistic focus of this versatile artist is on his efforts to get Spanish audience inspired by German and Austrian music repertoire for example by Wagner, Strauss, Schreker and Zemlinksky. He has premiered many operas in Spain, such as Dr. Faust by Busoni, Die Schweigsame Frau by Richard Strauss and Der ferne Klang by Schreker.

He has conducted on many stages of great prestige, such as the Vienna Musikverein, the Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Tchaikovsky Hall of Moscow and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, and has stood on the podium of important orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Dresdner Philharmonie, New Japan Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Staatskapelle Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Dresdner Philharmonie, Rotterdams Philharmonisch, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, New Japan Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra Texas, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National Montpellier, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra in Texas in addition to the important symphonic orchestras of Spain.

The 2014/15 season saw Pedro Halffter conducting Die Schweigsame Frau at the Bavarian State Opera as well as at Munich’s Opera Festival. In the 2016/17 season Maestro Hallfter conducted Tannhäuser, Zauberflöte and La Boheme a.o. at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Sevilla and Pique Dame at the Hungarian State Opera. His stepping in at the Opera in Essen for a performance of Die schweigsame Frau led to an immediate reinvitation to conduct concerts with the Essen Philharmonic.

As a composer, Pedro Halffter has also gained much international respect. His works have been performed in such important halls as the Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, the Philharmonie of Dortmund and Carnegie Hall of New York and were played by acclaimed orchestras such as Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerakademie, Kammerorchester Stuttgart and Ensemble intercontemporain. Among his noteworthy works are symphonic arrangements of Richard Wagner’s: Tannhäuser, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung.

In 2011 Pedro Halffter received the prestigious Juno award for best classical music album of the year, for Fire and Blood, which was recorded with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and he has also recorded an album devoted to Ginastera, with the label Deutsche Grammophon.

Pedro Halffter’s artistic season 2017/18 includes the German premiere of his symphonic arrangement of Götterdämmerung (January 2018) at Dortmund’s Konzerthaus, concerts with the legendary Spanish pianist, Joaquín Achúcarro in Madrid (November 2017) as well as the productions of Fidelio, Falstaff and Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea at the Opera of Sevilla. Following an invitation of the Teatro Verdi Trieste, Pedro Halffter will also conduct two symphonic concerts (September 2017) and the production of La Traviata (June 2018).

Pedro Halffter has been invited to join the jury of the singing competition „Concorso Lirico Ottevio Zino“ in Rome and is a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría of Seville.