As the year turns towards high summer, there is noticeable buzz around the Belfast headquarters of the Ulster Orchestra, which is celebrating its 60th year as a cornerstone of Northern Ireland’s cultural life.
Many of its long-serving musicians have been replaced by a younger generation of players, a changed demographic that is underlined by the appointment of an exciting new chief conductor. She is Anna Handler, the 30 year-old daughter of German and Colombian parents, who was born on the Côte d’Azur in the south of France and grew up in Munich.
Highly respected, both as a conductor and a pianist, in 2020 she was awarded the prestigious Maria Ladenburger music prize, when her playing was described by one of the adjudicators as “… captivating … she lives her music … she makes it entirely her own”.
Handler joins a succession of distinguished conductors, who have previously led the orchestra. They include Bryden Thompson, Vernon Handley, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Thierry Fischer, Kenneth Montgomery, JoAnn Falletta, Rafael Payere and, most recently, the charismatic Daniele Rustioni, who, since leaving in May 2024, has been appointed music-director laureate.
Handler’s contract is, initially, for a three-year tenure, with the mutual option to extend if all goes well. Artistic director and deputy chief executive Patrick McCarthy, a former principal trumpet with the orchestra, declares himself thrilled with the appointment.
“I can’t wait to get started”, he says. “Since confirmation, Anna and I have spoken regularly and at length, planning the forthcoming season and putting in place her thoughts for future programming. I’ve found her to be a deeply thoughtful person, who has spent time with several of the great conductor-thinkers. She has drawn down so much stuff from them, distilled it and is now ready to make her own mark.
“She will find here an orchestra that is eager, responsive and, above all, curious about different directions in which we can move. The shared appetite for risk, for taking chances, is greater now than ever before”.
Handler studied piano and conducting at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich, furthering her studies in Germany and the United States, before completing a master’s degree in conducting at the world famous Juilliard School in New York. She is currently juggling the roles of kapellmeister with Deutsche Oper in Berlin, assistant conductor at Boston Symphony Orchestra and artist-in residence for the 2026/27 season of the Beethoven-Haus in Berlin.
“I have a very intense life at the moment,” she says. “This is a big job, very exciting, but every leading position is a serious responsibility. As chief conductor I have the chance to gather my thoughts, to build something together, to dive deep into repertoire and find out what is important to me, what is important to the orchestra, what works and what doesn’t”.
After Rustioni’s departure, the orchestra was without a chief conductor for two years. For the players, it was a destabilising experience, “… a bit rickety”, to quote McCarthy. After performing under a number of potential conductors, a bespoke concert in Derry, conducted by Handler, provided the solution they had been searching for.
“The concert included Haydn’s Symphony No 49 and I can honestly say it was the best Haydn I have ever heard, anywhere”, says McCarthy. “The orchestra loved it straightaway”.
Handler’s feelings about that evening in Derry chimed with McCarthy’s.
“When I stood in front of the orchestra for the first time, I was so happy that they were willing to give the Haydn a go, to find its burning energy. I came in with no big expectations. I did not come to try to please or be liked, but just to be myself and show what I believe in.
“I was very confident in terms of belief, because I had done those pieces before. I had a relationship with them, I could stand up for them. I felt that together we could really get something out of them. I liked to see in their eyes a lot of youthful energy and open mindedness. Several of the principals are young and I felt in them a real desire to work, to get to a high level.”
Handler has had considerable input into the programme for the new, and future, seasons and is eagerly anticipating the opening concert on 25 September, when she will open her conducting account. A large ensemble of young singers from across Northern Ireland has been assembled for Beethoven’s epic Choral Symphony No. 9, a symbol of community, unity and unfettered joy. The concert will also feature Benjamin Britten’s Young Apollo, played by Senan Sheridan, a talented young pianist from Belfast.
In October, during the Belfast International Arts Festival, she will conduct Beethoven 7, together with Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, while, later in the season, Bruckner 6 will be paired with Brahms’s Violin Concerto. With an emphasis on youth and new names, she plans to bring in soloists and composers with whom she has previously worked, including her friend Grace-Evangeline Mason, the British composer of contemporary music. The closing concert in May will be another season highlight, with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and music from Steve Reich, in celebration of his 90th birthday.
“I’m excited about all this”, she says. “It means we have the opportunity to make connections together. I like it when there’s a unified message. That’s a big part of my daily thinking. If we want to have young people in the audience, then we should have young people participating on stage.
“When I left school, I told my parent that I wanted to be self-employed, to make my own path. When I was 17, I founded my own orchestra. It was an early sign of my independence.
“I have always been interested in how different people live their lives. I was a curious child, always asking my grandparents questions about their former lives. I am, of course, very curious about the people and the landscape of Northern Ireland. Last time I was here, I walked all around Belfast and I took myself to the Giant’s Causeway. And you know what, I’ve started watching Game of Thrones!”
The Ulster Orchestra’s new season opens on 25 September. The programme comprises: Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture; Benjamin Britten’s Young Apollo, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 Choral.
Full programme and bookings on http://www.ulsterorchestra.org.uk
The Even Hand 