ABOUT YZ
BIOGRAPHY
Named an “up-and-coming artist” by Opernwelt, Yorgos Ziavras is a Greek-German conductor bringing together operatic, symphonic and contemporary repertoire in an increasingly international career.
In 2025, he was appointed Principal Conductor of Oper Wuppertal, and fOR the 2026/27 season he serves as THE CHIEF CONDUCTOR of the opera company. Previously, he was Deputy Music Director at Theater Krefeld und Mönchengladbach, where his association with the theatre began in 2014 as a member of the Opernstudio Niederrhein.
He has conducted numerous orchestras and ensembles in Greece and Germany, including the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, Bodensee Philharmonie Konstanz, the Greek National Opera Orchestra, the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra, the ERT National Symphony Orchestra, the City of Athens Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, TETTTIX, and ERGON Ensemble, among others.
In 2019, Ziavras founded the ÉRMA Ensemble, a contemporary music ensemble bringing together leading musicians from across Europe. In 2025, he co-founded TRIETHNÉS FESTIVAL, a contemporary music festival based in the Prespa Lakes region, where he serves as Artistic Director.
He has conducted numerous world premieres of new works, including compositions by his close friend Peter Eötvös†, as well as works by Malika Kishino, ROBERT HP PLATZ Michalis Paraskakis, Kornilios Selamsis, among others.
He has twice been awarded scholarships by the Ministry of Culture of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, while from 2023 to 2025 he and the ÉRMA Ensemble were supported by the Deutscher Musikrat. From 2021 to 2024, he also served as a scientific associate at the Greek Ministry of Culture in the field of Contemporary Culture.
In 2026, he made his recording debut for WDR 3, conducting the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra in Phyllis Tate’s The Lodger. In 2025, the album Greek Songs by Non-Greek Composers, recorded in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Elena Marangou, received the 2024/25 Award for a Recording of Greek Interest from the Greek Theatre and Music Critics’ Association.
Ziavras studied orchestral conducting with Michael Luig at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. He studied piano in Athens with Elisavet Kounalaki and in Cologne with Brazilian pianist Paulo Álvares, and also studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens.
“Under Ziavras’s dynamic and shaping direction, the orchestra plays with enthusiasm and conveys the music almost physically, leading to performances of the highest quality.”
- Ute Ingelath-Gegg, Westdeutsche Zeitung (2026)
MULTIMEDIA
“The young Wuppertal CONDUCTOR Yorgos Ziavras is equally at home in avant-garde music and early music, and was also the conductor of the rediscovery of Phyllis Tate’s opera The Lodger.”
- Richard Lorber, OPERNWELT JAHRBUCH (2026)
GALLERY
Reviews
“Yorgos Ziavras has the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra really turn up the heat on the action unfolding on stage. The conductor and orchestra make themselves heard in an almost unbridled fashion. A force in the truest sense of the word. Yet the lyrical passages are by no means neglected.”
“From the orchestra pit, a true firework of Baroque orchestral music therefore resounds. Ziavras leads the demanding score with great sensitivity, precision, and care, lending it remarkable depth and texture.”
“Conductor Yorgos Ziavras led the music in close proximity to the singers, sharpened the dynamic string sound, and achieved an excellent balance between the large string section, the basso continuo with regal, cello and theorbo, as well as the natural horns and trumpets treated as effect instruments.”
“Yorgos Ziavras conjures up a fresh Rossini sound from the pit, which is well attuned to the vocals in terms of tempo”
“The one who deserves the most credit, however, is maestro Yorgos Ziavras, who conducted the Athens Municipality Symphony Orchestra with passion, bringing an unexpected dynamism to the evening.”
“Ziavras was able to achieve great success with Liszt’s music...In the purely orchestral pieces, the “Mephisto Waltz” and “Mazeppa”, Ziavras was able to combine the almost intoxicating moments of sound into powerful narratives. ”