Chief Conductor
Zagreb Philharmonic
Orchestra
Orchestra
since 2021
Dawid Runtz
Conductor“Fascinatingly thoughtful… one might even call it magic.” Radio HRT3
“Fascinatingly thoughtful… one might even call it magic.” Radio HRT3
Dawid Runtz is emerging as one of the most distinctive conductors of his generation: a musician of architectural clarity and dramatic instinct, with an uncommon ability to galvanize orchestras into performances of conviction, color, and emotional force. Chief Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra since 2021 and of Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein since January 2026, Runtz has quickly built a profile that extends beyond his institutional roles, combining the leadership of a music director with the curiosity and intensity of a conductor in rapid international ascent.
Recent and upcoming season highlights include major appearances with both of his orchestras in leading European musical centers: the Vienna Konzerthaus with Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein and the Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2025–26 he opened the Zagreb Philharmonic season with Frank Peter Zimmermann, made his Wiener Konzerthaus debut with Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein, and conducts Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem in Zagreb. Upcoming engagements include a collaboration with Lang Lang and the Zagreb Philharmonic, Vaduz Classic with Nadine Sierra, Javier Camarena, and Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein, and his symphonic debut in Italy with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano.
Runtz’s 2025 Vienna debut with Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein drew exceptional notice. Reviewing the ensemble’s first appearance at the Wiener Konzerthaus, Pizzicato wrote that Runtz led Scheherazade in a style “as assured and clearly defined as it was elegant, inspiring the orchestra to a magnificent achievement.” His work with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra has likewise become one of the defining artistic partnerships of his career. Since assuming the role of Chief Conductor in 2021, Runtz has led the orchestra in a wide range of repertoire, from the central symphonic canon to Croatian masterworks, major international appearances, and ambitious recording projects.
Runtz’s artistic partnerships include an increasingly prominent roster of international soloists, including Lang Lang, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Fazıl Say, Camille Thomas, Arabella Steinbacher, Michael Barenboim, Roman Simović, Radovan Vlatković, and Vivi Vassileva. From 2017 to 2024, he served as Principal Conductor of the Polish Royal Opera in Warsaw, where he continues to collaborate through selected productions, maintaining a close relationship with the Polish operatic landscape while expanding his symphonic profile across Europe and beyond. Championed early by Krzysztof and Elżbieta Penderecki, who followed his development from his student years, Runtz carries that lineage lightly — equally at home in Haydn and Mozart, Mahler and Strauss, and the Polish moderns.
Beyond Zagreb and Liechtenstein, Runtz has led orchestras including the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Staatskapelle Weimar, Warsaw Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonia, Slovak Philharmonic, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfonia Varsovia, and has worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in masterclasses led by Daniele Gatti. He draws on his training at the Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy, and made his Japanese debut at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo.
Runtz’s artistry has been recognized through numerous international awards and distinctions. He won multiple prizes at the 1st International Hong Kong Conducting Competition in 2018, received the Croatian Orlando Award for artistic achievement, and in 2024 was awarded Poland’s Jan Kiepura Theatre Music Award for Best Conductor. Radio HRT3 described his music-making as “fascinatingly thoughtful,” adding that one might even call it “magic.”
Dawid Runtz is represented worldwide by Sheldon Artists.
“As assured and clearly defined as it was elegant, inspiring the orchestra to a magnificent achievement.”
“Runtz literally hypnotized the audience with his strong, original interpretation… a fascinatingly thoughtful but unburdening way… one might even say — magic in the hall.”
“A conductor of great knowledge and charisma… he shaped all these details into a magnificent, consistently astounding, and truly titanic whole.”
“Perfectly memorizing the hour-long score, Runtz constructs the music with meticulous precision.”
“A highly gifted artist… he conducted the classical repertoire as well as my works.”
“A gifted artist with the talent to have an important career.”
Runtz is drawn to the biggest canvases in the repertoire — Mahler, Strauss, Shostakovich — and conducts them with a rare pairing of architectural clarity and human immediacy. Critics describe an interpreter who “gets to the bottom of things, never remaining superficial,” making playing that is “intelligent and transparent,” and drawing an orchestra to “breathe as one harmonious organism.” The through-line is directness — an unbroken connection between podium and players that lets even a titanic symphony feel intimate while its whole architecture stays in view.
Photography © Lukas Dyczko · Click to enlarge · High-resolution files available on request
For availability, fees, and program discussion, please contact: