Konstantin Trinks was born on the 9th of April, 1975, in Karlsruhe, Germany.
His first musical experience was playing the piano and the French horn. From an early age, he was a part of different ensembles and choirs. In 1994, he began studying conducting at the National music academy in Karlsruhe under prof. Wolf-Dieter Hauschild and piano under prof. Gunther Reinhold. He graduated in 2000 with honors.
In 1996, during his education, Mr. Trinks worked as a cotutor on a production of “Don Giovanni” at the “Aalto” theater in the city of Essen as well as at the “Castle” festival in Zwingenberg, in 1997. From 1997 till 2000 he worked at the Baden national theater in Karlsruhe as a guest cotutor and as Maestro Kazushi Ono’s personal assistant while also working on many different opera productions. There, in 1997, he led the choir rehearsals for “The Young Lord” by Hans Werner Henze. Being a tenor enthusiast, Mr. Trinks sung in the “Stuttgart” chamber choir conducted by Frieder Bernius, from 1999 till 2001.
At the “Schwetzingen” festival in 1999, he assisted Thomas Hengelbrock as well as Andreas Spering at the “Handel” festival in Karlsruhe between 1998 and 2002. Mr. Trinks also worked as an intern on Christian Thielemann’s production of “Tannhäuser” at the Bayreuth festival in 2002. He received a scholarship from “Academy Musiktheater Heute” from 2003 till 2005.
After 2000, he was permanently hired as a vocal pedagogue and conductor at the Baden national theater in Karlsruhe. He conducted “The Marriage of Figaro”, “Die Fledermaus”, “I puritani”, “Viva la mama”, “The Happy Deception”, “The Bell” and “Evita”.
Mr. Trinks was hired as a second conductor at the Saarbrucken national opera in 2002 and there he considerably expanded his repertoire with “The Flying Dutchman”, “Arabella”, “The Cunning Little Vixen”, “Il Trovatore”, “Un ballo in maschera“, „Lucia di Lamermour”, “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”, “Hoffman’s Tales”, “The Bartered Bride”, “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, “Orpheus in the Underworld” and “Les Miserales”.
During this period, he also conducted many ballet performances; he initiated and conducted youth concerts as well as special concerts dedicated to “Song of Praise”, part of Mendelssohn’s Second symphony in 2002 as well as concerts dedicated to “Scenes from Goethe’s “Faust” in 2004.
As acting music director at the Saarbrucken national opera from 2006 till 2009, Mr. Trinks conducted the premieres of “Das Rheingold”, “Lohengrin”, “Salome”, “The Magic Flute”, “Carmen”, “La Traviata”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “Pagliacci” as well as “Kullervo” by the Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen. The European premiere of the opera "The First Emperor" by the Chinese composer Tan Dun received great acknowledgment. Trinks also conducted a youth dance project based on “Firebird”, in collaboration with the choreographer Royston Maldoom.
His symphonic concerts together with the Saarbrucken national orchestra include pieces such as Anton Bruckner’s third and seventh symphony, “German Requiem” by Johannes Brahms, “Concert for an orchestra” by Bela Bartok, “Till Eulenspiegel” by Richard Strauss and Tchaikovsky’s fifth symphony.
In October, 2008, Mr. Trinks made his debut at the Darmstadt national theater with the premiere of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”. He has been the head music director there since the 2009/2010 season.
Some of his first productions included “Aida”, “Der Rosenkavalier”, reproductions of “Parsifal” and “Hansel and Gretel”. Both the world premiere of Karl Orff’s early work “Gisei – The Sacrifice” in tandem with the premiere of Orff’s later work “Play of the End of Times” were published on DVD. Trinks also conducted concerts among which Maler’s fifth symphony, Beethoven’s seventh symphony and Shostakovich’s fifth symphony.
He had artistic collaborations with many other orchestras. Here’s a brief overview:
2004: “Così fan tutte” at the Klangenfurt national theater. The “Verdi” gala concert at the Eberbach monastery with the Frankfurt philharmonic. A successful debut in Germany of the “KBS Seoul” symphonic orchestra during an opera gala concert in Wiesbaden. In 2006: “Don Giovanni” at the Klangenfurt national theater; “Rigoletto” at the Mannheim national theater and “Lucia di Lamermour” at the Nurnberg national theater.
Concerts together with the Frankfurt radio-symphony orchestra, the Munich radio-symphony orchestra, the Stuttgart philharmonics, the Reutlinger Württemberg philharmonic, the Rostok North German philharmonic, the Innsbruk tirol symphony orchestra, the “Pfalz” theater orchestra in Kaiserslautern, the Baden-Baden philharmonic, the German philharmonic in Saarbrucken Kaiserslautern, the Vogtland philharmonic and the “Volkwang” chamber orchestra in Essen.
In the autumn of 2007, he conducted the reproduction of “Don Giovanni”: a production by Peter Konwitschny at the Berlin Komische Oper as well as an opening concert at the “Anton Rubenstein” international festival in 2007, together with the Saint Petersburg philharmonic.
Trinks debuted in Japan in December 2008 at the Tokyo “New National” theater with a new production of “Don Giovanni” performed by an international ensemble. He returned to conduct “La Boheme” in 2012 and “Tannhäuser” in 2013. Before that, he conducted Maler’s fifth symphony with the Tokyo philharmonic orchestra in May, 2010.
He successfully debuted at the Semper Oper in Dresden in March, 2010, with “Der Rosenkavalier”. He conducted more performances at the end of summer, 2010. During season 2011/2012 he conducted “Capriccio” by Richard Strauss and “Hansel and Gretel” as well as a new production of “Schwanda, the Bagpiper” by Jaromir Weinberger.
He debuted at the Paris national opera at the end of 2010 with a reproduction of “The Bartered Wife”.
He had a highly praised debut at the Munich Bavarian opera during the 2011 opera festivals with “Der Rosenkavalier”. He returned to Munich to conduct a series of performances of the same opera during 2011/2012.
2011, the Darmstadt national theater: a new production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” by Wagner.
2012: “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Frankfurt opera.
2013: “Tannhäuser” at the national Rhein opera in Strasburg.
He debuted with “Turandot” at the Berlin Deutsche Oper in 2014.
