General music director Stefan Fraas was born in Vogtland, Germany, studied music education at the music university in  Zwickau and then majored in piano, vocal, orchestral and choral conducting at the Conservatory of Music “Carl Maria von Weber” in Dresden and the Franz Liszt Conservatory of Music in Weimar.

He put the last touches on his studies in master classes with Helmut Rilling, Heinz Roegner and Militades Caridis. Stefan Fraas acclaimed success in national and international competitions on which occasions he received numerous awards.

His artistic career with orchestras began in 1988 as Kapellmeister of the Vogtland Orchestra Reichenbach.  Just a few years later in 1992 he was named main conductor and manager and advanced  to becoming  director of the Vogtland Philharmonie in 1995.  In addition to that, he became the chief conductor of the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen from 2000 to 2006 and was appointed General Music Director in 2007.

Concert tours have taken him throughout nearly all of Europe, to Israel, China, Mexico, Brasil and the United States where he successfully conducted in the main music centers such as Mailand, Rom, St. Petersburg, Salzburg, Brussels, London, Prag, Paris, Tel Aviv, Chicago, New York, Mexico City and Brasilia.

He was bestowed the title of honorary conductor by the Chinese Radio Symphony Orchestra Peking in 1999.  Guest appearances and repeated invitations to worldwide-renowned festivals such as Schleswig Holstein Musical Festival, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Klassik Festival Ruhr, Santander Music Festival, Kotor Art Montenegro, Les Floraisons Musicales France, Festival de Wiltz Luxemburg, Ohrid Summer Festival Macedonia underline his wide range of musical engagements.  By heading master classes for conductors and  teaching at the Conservatory for Church Music in Bayreuth, he attends to the promotion of young talented conductors.

A series of CD and TV productions was released in recent years proving his wide range of musical engagement.  Furthermore, in 2008 Stefan Fraas was appointed chief conductor of one of the most renowned and rich in tradition orchestras of Germany, namely, the Kurpfaelzisches Chamber Orchestra Mannheim.

In 2013 Stefan Fraas received invitations as guest conductor in Rome, Paris and Mexico.