Anna Handler


Anna Isabella Handler is a German conductor and concert pianist. Handler is currently assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor-designate of the Ulster Orchestra.

Biography

Handler was born to a German father and a Colombian mother in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, where her parents worked as engineers. She grew up in Munich, Germany, and initially formed a singing duo with her younger sister Laura. Handler studied piano and conducting with Ingrid Fliter at the Accademia Pianistica di Imola, with Adrian Oetiker at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, with Henri Sigfridsson at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, with Nicolás Pasquet and Ekhart Wycik at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, and with Pavel Gililov at the Musikakademie in Liechtenstein.
Handler and her sister Laura have performed as a piano-violin duo. Handler founded the ensemble Enigma Classica in 2019. Musical projects by Handler and Enigma Classica have included collaborations with such musicians as Arabella Steinbacher, Daniel Müller-Schott, and Sabine Meyer, as well as an interdisciplinary project on music education, featuring real-time generative video animation at the Young Artist Festival Bayreuth in August 2022. Her work has garnered her the Maria Ladenburger Förderpreis. She has also served as an conducting assistant at the Bayerische Staatsoper, working with Oksana Lyniv on such productions as Eva und Adam, which premiered as part of the 2019 Munich Opera Festival. She made her Salzburg Festival conducting debut in 2022 with Káťa Kabanová, and returned in subsequent years for Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and Orff's Die Kluge.
Handler continued her music studies in the USA at the Juilliard School, where her teachers included David Robertson. She was awarded the Juilliard Kovner Fellowship for outstanding students of classical music, the first conducting student to receive the fellowship. She graduated from Juilliard in 2023 with an MM degree. Handler subsequently became a Dudamel Conducting Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2023-2024 season. In September 2024, Handler became assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She made her Tanglewood Festival conducting debut with the orchestra in August 2025, and her subscription concert debut with the orchestra at Symphony Hall in November 2025.
In September 2025, Handler first guest-conducted the Ulster Orchestra. In November 2025, the orchestra announced the appointment of Handler as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2026-2027 season, with an initial contract of three years. Handler is the second female conductor to be named chief conductor of the Ulster Orchestra.

Honours and awards

  • 2018: Prizewinner of the International Hans von Bülow Competition
  • 2019: Rising Star Award from the European Cultural Foundation Europamusicale
  • 2020: Maria-Ladenburger-Förderpreis
  • 2023: Juilliard Kovner Fellowship

    Video recordings

  • Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus, Johannes Brahms: Tragic Overture, Zoltán Kodály: Dances of Galánta, Finale. The Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Anna Handler. Alice Tully Hall, New York 2022/2023.
  • Giuseppe Verdi: La forza del destino, Overture. Allegra Festival & Academy, conducted by Anna Handler, Bulgaria Hall, Sofia, July 22, 2022.
  • Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45. Anna Handler, Laura Handler. Siemensvilla, Berlin, 2021.
  • Antonín Dvořák: Silent Woods for cello and orchestra, Op. 68/5. Enigma Classica, Anna Handler, Laura Moinian. München, 2021.
  • Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 9. Anna Handler. Siemens Villa Berlin, 2021.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 1st movement. Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler. München, 2019.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 2nd movement. Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler. München, 2019.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488, 3rd movement. Enigma Classica ensemble, Anna Handler. München, 2019.