Erzählkonzert Shelly Kupferberg

Anna Skryleva – the winner of the prestigious Opus Klassik Award 2024 – conductor, composer, pianist and synaesthete – has made a name for herself on the international stage in recent years. The cosmopolitan began playing the piano as a child and composed her first piece at the age of eight. Since then, as a composing conductor, she has been committed to pushing the boundaries of the traditional with creativity, prudence and depth: „For me, the primary goal is to be able to perform theatre and art on an equal footing with reality.“

As a composing conductor she is passionately dedicated to expanding the orchestral and opera repertoire. Her rediscovery and world premiere of Eugene Engtel’s opera „Grete Minde“ in 2022 caused an international sensation and is considered a discovery of the century. During her tenure as a General Music Director at the Theater Magdeburg (2019-2025), numerous successful projects were realized, earning her international recognition: the Special Prize „Innovative Orchestra 2019“ from the German Orchestra Foundation for her concert programming. 2022 the production of Eugen Engel’s „Grete Minde“ were nominated for the International Opera Awards. 2024 the Magdeburg Philharmonic and Anna Skryleva won the prestigious Opus Klassik Award 2024 for the World Premiere Recording of „Grete Minde“ and was nominated for the Best Opera Recording by Opus Klassik Award 2024.

As a conductor, her training has taken her through the classic stages of a general music director: from solo pianist to positions as a repetiteur, assistant and conductor, with mentors including Simone Young and Julia Jones, as well as the Institute for Women Conductors at the Dallas Opera (USA).

Anna Skryleva regularly works as a guest at renowned opera houses and with outstanding orchestras, including the the Royal Swedish Opera, the Dallas Opera, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony orchestra, the Copenhagen Phil and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. in 2025 and 2026 she will debut at Teatro alla Scala and the Sydeny Opera House.
The conductor also works closely with international soloists and singers such as Andreas Schager, Camilla Nylund and Vida Miknevičute, violinist Arabella Steinbacher, pianists Lucas & Arthur Jussen and horn player Felix Klieser.

Anna Skryleva’s versatile repertoire spans the Viennese classical era of Mozart and Beethoven, German and Russian Romanticism from Tchaikovsky to Wagner and Strauss, as well as Italian masters such as Verdi and Puccini. As a conductor, she also pays special attention to the music of the 20th century with focus on Britten, Shostakovitch and Prokofiev, as well as contemporary music. In close collaboration with composers such as Master of the King’s Music errollyn Wallen, Lera Auerbach and Konstantia Gourzi, Anna Skryleva continues to create groundbreaking projects.

Since she was accepted into the composition class at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory at the age of only ten, Anna Skryleva has worked steadily as a composer; her works are published by Universal Edition Vienna. She has created several opera and orchestral arrangements for the theatres in Magdeburg and Winterthur, including Mozart’s „La clemenza di Tito“ and Wagner’s prelude to the opera „Lohengrin“. in 2023, „Lullaby“ was created for two voices and orchestra, which had its world premiere in Magdeburg. Two further premieres took part in May and June 2024: „3 Impromptus in C“ in the orchestral version with the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra and „Mirror“ for soprano and orchestra with the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra. „Mirror“ is based on the „Solresol“ language, in which each musical motif is assigned a specific word. The work is based on a poem that Skryleva wrote in 2021 – in her composition, the music is triggered and shaped by words.
In October 2025, the world premiere of „Scherzo for Horn and Orchestra“ will take place, a work composed by Skryleva for the renowned horn played Felix Klieser, which will be part of a concert for horn and orchestra.

Anna Skryleva is not only committed to music, but also to society: in 2014, she founded the international peace initiative „CLASSIC FOR PEACE“ (CFP), with which the versatile artist aims to promote international understanding through classical music.

Anna Skryleva and her family live in Berlin.

Shelly Kupferberg, 1974 in Tel-Aviv geboren, wuchs in West-Berlin auf. Sie studierte Publizistik, Theater- und Musikwissenschaften an der Freien Universität Berlin und begann schon während ihres Studiums, als Journalistin für den öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk zu arbeiten. Neben zahlreichen Beiträgen für die ARD, moderiert sie seit 25 Jahren Kultur-, Literatur und Gesellschaftsmagazine und arbeitet als freie Redakteurin und Moderatorin für Deutschlandfunk Kultur (u.a. „Lesart“) und moderiert auf rbbKultur tägliche Live-Kultursendungen.

Ihre thematischen Schwerpunkte sind neben der Kultur auch gesellschaftliche Themen, wie Bildung, Kulturvermittlung, Digitalisierung, Zivilgesellschaft, Gender, Demokratie und Partizipation, Diskriminierungs-, sowie Migrationsthemen und Provenienzforschung. Von 1997-2007 arbeitete sie für die Jüdischen Kulturtage Berlin und kuratierte eigene Reihen. Sie moderiert neben ihren regelmäßigen Live-Radiosendungen und Konzertübertragungen zahlreiche Lesungen und Tagungen, Filmvorführungen, sowie hochkarätige Veranstaltungen für unterschiedliche Stiftungen, Ministerien, Kultureinrichtungen und Festivals. Außerdem moderiert sie ehrenamtlich für Terre des Femmes.