Vita

German-Korean conductor Olivia Lee-Gundermann first attracted international attention with her debut at Teatro Real Madrid in John Adams’ NIXON IN CHINA. Her most recent guest engagements include Prokofiev’s ROMEO AND JULIET at Oper Leipzig and Carl Orff’s CARMINA BURANA at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. She is also a prizewinner of the Malta International Conducting Competition and the BMI International Conducting Competition in Bucharest.

Since the 2022/23 season, Olivia Lee-Gundermann has served as Second Kapellmeister at Theater Dortmund. Her work there has included new productions and performances of NIXON IN CHINA, GRÄFIN MARIZA, ROMEO AND JULIET, THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, the world premiere of MÄDCHEN IN NOT, DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE and LA BOHÈME. In the 2026/27 season, she conducts, among other projects, CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / GIANNI SCHICCHI.

She previously worked at Landestheater Detmold as a répétiteur with conducting duties and later as Kapellmeister, building a broad repertoire across opera, operetta, musical theatre and ballet.

Further guest conducting engagements have taken her to the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Detmolder Kammerorchester, Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen, Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel, Philharmonisches Orchester Detmold, Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Bergische Symphoniker.

Olivia Lee-Gundermann began her musical training in piano at Suwon University and later studied répétiteur work at the Korea National University of Arts. She moved to Germany in 2012 to study orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, first with Prof. Karl-Heinz Bloemeke and, from 2015 to 2019, with Prof. Florian Ludwig. While still a student, she made her conducting debut in 2014 with Mozart’s DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE as part of the university’s annual opera production. In 2015 and 2016, she was supported by scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

2026-08-31

Media

Teatro Real: NIXON IN CHINA (Official trailer)

Olivia Lee-Gundermann | Teatro Real

Oper Dortmund | GRÄFIN MARIZ

Repertoire

News & Infos

Presse

Fotos