Volker Hartung is one of the most interesting personalities in the conducting scene today.

His unmistakable conducting style and skill in handling orchestras and soloists make him very popular wherever he works.

His several decades of experience as an independant, completely unsubsidized head of ensembles have tought him how to form orchestras and make them fiancially and artistically viable in the face of various obstacles.

His lectures on music history and performance technique are internationally renowned. Volker Hartung assumed the position of chief conductor of the Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra in 1986. He was trained in the tradition of German symphony orchestras and opera. Under the influence of the conductors Evgeny Mravinsky and Sergiu Celibidache, Hartung developed a special understanding of the French, German and Slavic musical traditions.