On 14 July 2023, intendant Cora Bethke and financial director Oliver Geipel announced that Martijn will become the Chief Conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker from the 2024/25 season on. His initial contract will cover a four-year period.
From May 18th to May 23d, Martijn conducted five performances of Le Nozze di Figaro by W. A. Mozart at the Teatro Comunale Bologna, marking his operatic conducting debut. The production, directed by Alessandro Talevi, received high acclaim by the audiences, as well as stunning reviews in local and international opera press.
On 21 and 22 April, Martijn conducted the Tonkünstler-Orchester Wien in the Festsaal of the Baden Casino, as well as in the Kasematten concert hall in Wiener Neustadt. This highly acclaimed debut in Austria featured a program with music from the Nordic countries.
After two succesful and highly acclaimed productions in Belgium with Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Martijn will continue 2023 with two international debuts. On 23 and 24 January 2023, he will lead the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra in the Hungarian cities of Győr and Sopron. Afterwards, he travels to Sicily to conduct the Orchestra Sinfonica Sicliana in Palermo.
Martijn will conduct the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra on 13 and 15 January in a special theatre concert around Sibelius’ The Tempest. Together with mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn and the theatre collective De Roovers, he will bring this unknown masterpiece by the Finnish grandmaster to life in the Koningin Elisabethzaal Antwerp and in CC Hasselt.
After a successful beginning of the season in Sweden with the Gävle Symfoniorkester, where Martijn conducted the VIP concert together with soloists Johan Dalene (violin) and Eivind Ringsted (viola), he was asked to jump in with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln on Thursday 8 September to replace conductor Petr Popelka, who unfortunately had to cancel due to illness.
