A year and a half after Thierry Fischer took his final bow as Utah Symphony music director — a role he embraced for 14 years as he spearheaded a vibrant era for the orchestra and expanded its reach across the state — the Utah Symphony has named a new music director.
Markus Poschner will be the eighth music director in the orchestra’s 84-year history, the Utah Symphony announced on Monday, officially concluding a years-long search for a new leader.
The German conductor — who is a trained pianist and holds a special interest in jazz piano — already has a strong connection with the Utah Symphony. He made his U.S. conducting debut with the Salt Lake City-based orchestra in 2022, leading a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The success of that performance led to a return engagement for Poschner a year later.
Now, he is staying connected to his first American orchestra as he takes on the role of music director.
“The opportunity to serve as the next music director of the Utah Symphony — to make music with the orchestra’s exceptionally skilled musicians and engage with a community that is so welcoming and so appreciative of the arts — is a true honor,” he said in a statement shared with the Deseret News. “My first performance with this orchestra was a very personal, intense experience. I had conducted Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 many times, but with the Utah Symphony, the passion, energy, and bond of trust were unique. The style of the orchestra’s musicianship resonated with me. I could feel, immediately, a chemistry and a sense of familiarity, easy communication, and partnership — a knowledge that together we could build moments that would be felt deeply by our audiences.”
Poschner assumes the role of music director designate immediately and will take on full duties as music director in the 2027-28 season.
What Markus Poschner wants to achieve with the Utah Symphony
Poschner joins the Utah Symphony at a somewhat delicate time, when the status of Abravanel Hall, the symphony’s longtime home, has been shrouded in some uncertainty amid a proposed downtown Salt Lake City revitalization project, the Deseret News reported.
An online petition calling on the preservation of the venue drew tens of thousands of signatures. Legendary composer John Williams even penned a letter and called the venue a “crown jewel in the cultural life of Salt Lake City.”
Most recently, the hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places — making a serious argument for its preservation.
“We want the symphony to thrive for the next 50 years and beyond, and I’m committed, as I have been from day one, to keeping the hall as is where it is. We have a plan to do so,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson told the Revitalization Zone Committee, a newly established panel tasked with overseeing the downtown project, in September, per Deseret News.
As he enters Abravanel Hall as music director, Poschner wants to expand the symphony’s repertoire, exploring the works of American composers and music that crosses genres and cultures in addition to standard pieces, according to the news release.
He also has an interest in curating musical experiences that “could only happen in Utah,” drawing inspiration from historic Abravanel Hall, downtown Salt Lake, and the state’s snowy mountains and desert landscapes. “As individuals, we are products of our environment — and so is the art we create. We need only to remain open and to listen,” he said in a statement.
Poschner seems to have the backing of the symphony musicians and leadership.
“One of my favorite things about Maestro Poschner is that he’s willing to take risks,” Madeline Adkins, the symphony’s concertmaster and Music Director Search Committee member said in a statement. “If you think about your favorite sports team, they don’t just play by the playbook; they’re able to respond spontaneously. The magic happens in unexpected and beautiful moments, and I know our audience can sense that as well.”
Steve Brosvik, Utah Symphony | Utah Opera’s president and CEO, also praised Poschner’s enthusiasm for discovering and building audiences across Utah. But another big draw for him was the conductor’s dedication to music education and building the next generation of musicians.
The organization has a robust education outreach program, and Poschner’s upbringing ties in well with that vision. Some of Poschner’s earliest childhood memories are of hiding under the piano while his mother taught lessons.
Poschner comes to Utah with a robust history of leading orchestras and opera houses throughout Europe. Currently, he is the chief conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz in Austria through the 2026-27 season. He also holds that position with Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana through the 2024-25 season, and has been appointed to that role for the Basel Symphony Orchestra starting in the fall of 2025.
Following Thierry Fischer’s legacy
Poschner’s Utah Symphony appointment comes on the heels of Thierry Fischer’s 14-year tenure.
Fischer came to Utah with a “clear mandate” to restore the reputation of an orchestra that had risen to prominence under the leadership of the legendary Maurice Abravanel, another European conductor who guided the symphony from 1947 to 1979, he previously told the Deseret News.
Throughout his time with the Utah Symphony, the Swiss conductor embarked on multiple statewide tours that extended the symphony’s reach to rural communities and major Utah landmarks, including the state’s five national parks. In 2016, he celebrated the symphony’s 75-year milestone with an anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall.
Fischer was actively involved in the symphony’s ongoing service project to bring music education to young musicians in Haiti. Through extensive educational outreach, he became acquainted with young students and musicians throughout Utah, and even conducted 250 high school students across the state in a performance of Igor Stravinksy’s “Firebird.”
He commissioned new works and championed lesser-known works, like French composer Olivier Messiaen’s “Des Canyons aux etoiles” (“From the Canyons to the Stars”), a piece inspired by the composer’s visit to southern Utah in the 1970s. The symphony recorded this 12-movement piece in its entirety at Zion National Park and released the recording to high praise internationally.
“Realistically, let’s face it: What could a conductor do without musicians?” Fischer told the Deseret News ahead of his final performances as music director last year. “I’m proud of what we achieved together as a collective. … We developed our sound. … It is not my sound, it is not the musicians’ sound, it is our sound. … We developed an identity.
“Any reasonable leader knows when you have to leave,” he added, matter of factly. “You see too many leaders staying too long, for obvious reasons. … And I realized a few years ago that I had the feeling that … the organization was needing some fresh ideas, some fresh philosophy, some fresh fire here.
“And you know what? Me, too.”