Berlin Philharmonic Choir: Florian Benfer becomes chief conductor

Florian Benfer succeeds Jörg-Peter Weigle at the Berlin Philharmonic Choir. From the 2025/2026 season, the young choir conductor from Sweden will replace Weigle, who is saying goodbye after 22 years.

Benfer is not only a conductor, but also a singer and organist. He currently leads the Swedish Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir and the Arton Ensemble, which he founded in 2008. After studying church music, choral and orchestral conducting in Leipzig, Stockholm and The Hague, he gained experience as a choir director at the Stockholm opera houses and as a singer in various ensembles. “Of course I want to perform the great classics,” he says of his plans. “But I would also like to explore the newer repertoire and perhaps even new forms of concert design.”

The Philharmonic Choir will realize the last two projects with its current chief conductor on March 16, 2025 (Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion) and on June 1 (Franz Schmidt’s “The Book with Seven Seals”). Florian Benfer’s inaugural concert is scheduled for October 19, 2025.