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“Somebody like Mahler takes you by the hand and pulls you from the darkness to the light. The same with Beethoven — it’s all about fighting for human rights. Bruckner is totally different, because it’s about us; it’s not an ego thing. It’s just floating, building up its own world, which is on the one hand so mystic, and on the other hand, so down to earth, grounded here.”
“The subsequent performance of Bruckner’s 'Ninth' became a fundamental event under Poschner. The Bruckner Orchestra blossomed under the expansive conducting of its leader. As the final Adagio movement faded away, Poschner followed it with a minute’s silence dedicated to the composer on his 200th birthday, before frenetic applause erupted in the packed basilica.”
In 2025-26 Poschner begins his tenure as Chief Conductor of Sinfonieorchester Basel, in 2026-27 he becomes Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, and in 2027-28 he will start his tenure as Music Director of the Utah Symphony. Since taking over in 2017 as Chief Conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Poschner and the top Austrian ensemble have received enthusiastic acclaim from audiences and international press alike. In 2020 they won the Austrian Music Theatre Awards in the “Orchestra of the Year” and “Conductor of the Year” categories. Poschner’s tenure with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz will conclude with the 2026-27 season.
From 2015 to 2025 Poschner was Chief Conductor of the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, leading the orchestra in two International Classical Music Award-winning recordings (ICMA): the complete Brahms symphonies in 2018 for Sony Classical, and a Hindemith/Schnittke recording for ECM in 2025. His recording of Offenbach's “Maître Péronilla” with the Orchestre National de France was honored with the German Record Critics' Award in 2021. In 2024, Poschner received the Special Achievement Award from the ICMA jury for the complete recording of all Bruckner symphonies with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 2007 to 2017, he was General Music Director of the Bremen Philharmonic. In July 2010, the University of Bremen appointed him honorary professor, a title also bestowed upon him by the Anton Bruckner University in Linz in 2020.
Since receiving the German Conducting Award, Markus Poschner has made regular guest appearances with many top orchestras and opera houses around the world including Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Bamberger Symphoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Netherlands Philharmonic, SWR Symphonieorchester, Dresdner Philharmonie, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Staatsoper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, Oper Frankfurt, Wiener Staatsoper and Oper Zürich. Poschner conducted the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra for the first time in 2019 in Abu Dhabi with Wagner's “Die Walküre”. In July 2022, he opened the Bayreuth Festival with “Tristan und Isolde” and returned to Bayreuth in 2023 for the revival of the production.
