Kai Bumann

Kai Bumann (16 August 1961 – 2 June 2022) was a German conductor who led orchestras and opera companies mainly in Poland, such as the Opera Krakowska, Warsaw Chamber Opera and the Polish Baltic Philharmonic. He was conductor and artistic director of the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra (SJSO) from 1998 until his death.

Career Born in 1961 in West Berlin,

In 1997, he became chief conductor of the Opera Krakowska. He celebrated the orchestra's 50th anniversary in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic with a reduced group.

Bumann was musical director of the Warsaw Chamber Opera from 2003 to 2013,

Bumann was chief conductor of the two orchestras of the Bromberg Philharmonie from 2015, and also became professor of conducting at the in 2010.

Awards and honors

1994: Second prize at the Geneva International Music Competition

Recordings 2006: Bartók: Viola Concerto, Peter Mieg: Triple concerto dans le gôut italien, Dvořák: Symphony No. 8; with Lea Boesch (viola), Schweizer Jugend-Sinfonie-Orchester 2008: Feliks Janiewicz, Violin Concertos No. 3 and 5, with Zbigniew Pilch (violin), Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense, TAKT PMC 057 2016: Mahler, Ninth Symphony; Schweizer Jugend-Sinfonie-Orchester, live recording. 2017: Przeboje 55-lecia, works by J. S. Bach and W. A. Mozart, with Helena Bregar (soprano), Tomasz Gluska (trompet), Capella Bydgostiensis; DUX 1427

Writing