Principal conductor of Theater Bremen since 2012, Clemens Heil has conducted in that theatre, among others, new productions of The Macropoulos Affair and Cosi fan tutte. He studied conducting and piano in Stuttgart and Freiburg. He gained experience conducting choirs in the State Operas in Stuttgart and Hanover. For a performance of Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole the choir prepared by Clemens Heil received the title of ‘Choir of the Year’ from the ‘Opernwelt’ monthly. Working as a corepetiteur and conductor in Staatstheater Mainz, he mastered a wide repertoire from the baroque to contemporary, conducting e.g. performances of Sciarrino’s Macbeth and Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. In 2007–08 he conducted the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie (IEMA) in numerous projects, e.g. at the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Klangwerktage Hamburg, and the Quantensprünge at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe. He led Ensemble Modern in, among others, a production of The Threepenny Opera in the Schauspiel Frankfurt. His collaboration with Peter Eötvös and Franck Ollu (as their assistant) provided him with numerous impulses for his artistic work. He also worked as assistant to Mauricio Kagel and, after the latter’s death, conducted concerts dedicated to his memory presented by Ensemble Modern at the Transart Festival in Brixen and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. He also frequently led the ensembles of Hamburg’s Staatsoper, recently – as assistant to Simone Young in the German premiere of Henze’s opera Upupa.

Other ensembles and orchestras conducted by Clemens Heil include: the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (at the Festival Freispiel in Frankfurt, 2010), Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland Pfalz (2012), Staatsorchester Hannover, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Bielefelder Philharmoniker, Brandenburger Philharmoniker and St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra. He also appears as a chamber musician and song accompanist.