The young German conductor Patrick Lange announced as Opera North's next music director

Patrick Lange

Opera North's forthcoming Autumn season has an interesting element of compare and contrast to it. Patrick Nolan's new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin will be conducted by the company's music director, Garry Walker, whilst the revival of Femi Elufowoju Jr 's production of Verdi's Rigoletto will be conducted by the young German conductor Patrick Lange. Now it has been announced that Garry Walker will be stepping down as music director in 2028, when he will have been in post for nine years, and Patrick Lange will then take over as music director. 

The company's Board of Trustees also has a new chair as Merran McRae takes on the role. Previously Chief Executive of Wakefield Council, she is now Chair of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Deputy Chair at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. She was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Lieutenancy in 2024.   

Patrick Lange made his debut with Opera North in 2025 conducting The Magic Flute to both critical and audience acclaim.  As music director, he will conduct opera productions in Leeds and on tour, and symphonic concerts as part of the Kirklees Concert Season, as well as supporting the many other aspects of Opera North’s work, including its community and education initiatives. 

Patrick Lange began his musical career as an eight-year-old in the Regensburger Domspatzen boys’ choir. After graduating from high school, he studied conducting at the conservatoires in Würzburg and Zurich. As assistant conductor of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra he assisted Claudio Abbado, as well as Herbert Blomstedt, Myung-Whun Chung, Sir Colin Davis, Philippe Jordan and Ingo Metzmacher. In 2007, Patrick Lange received the European Cultural Award in the Advancement Award for Young Conductors category and, in 2009, was awarded the first-ever Eugen Jochum Scholarship of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.  He began his opera conducting career in Zurich and Lucerne, he has subsequently become a regular guest conductor at leading opera houses worldwide, including the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Opéra National de Paris.