Tugan Sokhiev is his name – the new Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO). On Monday, 6 September 2010, Ingo Metzmacher’s successor was presented to the public by the Intendant of Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH (roc berlin), Gernot Rehrl, and DSO Managing Director Alexander Steinbeis at the Akademie der Künste on Berlin’s Pariser Platz. In the presence of the roc berlin company heads the 33-year-old Sokhiev signed a contract, initially for a period of four years, to begin with the 2012|13 season. From the start of the 2010|11 season, he holds the title of Music Director Designate.

Tugan Sokhiev has in fact already been a presence in Berlin for some years. He has conducted the DSO with great success on no fewer than three occasions – most recently in December 2009 in a highly acclaimed interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony – this past January he made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The Russian conductor was born in 1977 in Vladikavkaz, capital of the former Soviet republic of North Ossetia, and received his artistic training in the famed St. Petersburg conducting class of Ilya Musin. In his young career, he has already succeeded in forging some impressive artistic relationships. Since the 2008|09 season he has served as Principal Conductor of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and he has also entered into permanent associations with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. As Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the DSO, he will direct subscription concerts in Berlin, as well as tours and special projects. As Music Director Designate effective immediately, Tugan Sokhiev will be present at auditions for vacant orchestral positions, he will have impact on the orchestra’s profile and will assume responsibility for programme planning from the 2012|13 season onwards.

»The artistic relationship that has developed between me and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin over the last few years is an extremely positive one,« remarked Tugan Sokhiev upon signing his contract with the orchestra. »It is based on real respect and an understanding of the cooperative nature of our striving for the best possible music-making. I relish the challenges and opportunities that await with this wonderful orchestra in one of Europe's great musical centres.« Roc Intendant Gernot Rehrl has emphasized how fortunate he considers himself to have acquired for Berlin, in the person of Tugan Sokhiev, one of the outstanding conductors of the younger generation.

DSO Managing Director Alexander Steinbeis, whose own contract has been extended to 2016, has pointed out that the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin can already look back over a highly successful collaboration with Tugan Sokhiev and take pride in his engagement as the DSO’s seventh principal conductor. First violinist Michael Mücke, member of the orchestra committee, has spoken of an artistic success story being written since 2003 in collaboration with the young conductor to which a decisive new chapter is now about to be added. Tugan Sokhiev enjoys the orchestra’s complete confidence.