"Wincor’s conducting was both precise and evocative."
"Schubert’s symphonic charms were balm for the ears, especially given Wincor’s fine sense of structure and proportion. She coaxed exquisite delicacy when called for — the opening was magical ...."
Austrian conductor Katharina Wincor is a force on the podium and has quickly established an international reputation.
In the 2025/26 season, she debuts with the hr-Sinfonieorchester, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, The Hallé, Milwaukee Symphony, Bremer Philharmoniker, Jenaer Philharmonie, Sinfonieorchester Biel Solothurn, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, and returns to collaborate with the Sarasota Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Altomonte Orchester St. Florian, and the Upper Austrian Youth Orchestra. Wincor also makes her debut at Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich with a new production of Hans Werner Henze’s Die Englische Katze to mark the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Highlights include guest conducting engagements with the SWR Symphonieorchester, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Bamberg Symphony, Wiener Symphoniker, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony (Washington, D.C.), Tucson Symphony, Utah Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP), Orquesta Sinfónica RTVE Madrid, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. She has also been re-invited to work with the Museumsorchester Frankfurt, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Cincinnati Symphony, Romanian Radio National Orchestra, Ensemble Reflektor, Klangforum Wien, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM. Recent and upcoming collaborations with soloists include James Ehnes, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Daniel Müller-Schott, Julian Steckel, Alexander Malofeev, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Rafał Blechacz, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, David Fray, and Anna Lapwood.
In 2024, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg’s birth, Wincor conducted a concert at the Arnold Schönberg Center, with a chamber orchestra comprised of members of the Wiener Philharmoniker.
Wincor first gained international attention as assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Fabio Luisi. In 2020, she was a prize-winner at the Mahler Competition in Bamberg and was invited to the Ammodo Masterclass with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Iván Fischer, who subsequenly engaged her as an assistant for several projects with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Her early experience with the Arnold Schoenberg Chor in Vienna shaped her natural approach to working with singers. After conducting Bernstein’s Candide at the 2022 May Festival with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, she also led a production at the Salzburg State Theatre and a children’s opera at the Salzburg Festival.
Born and raised in Upper Austria, Wincor studied conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Zurich University of the Arts. She has participated in masterclasses with Riccardo Muti, Jaap van Zweden, Robert Spano, and David Zinman.