Born in
Munich, Hofstetter studied organ, piano and conducting at the
Richard Strauss Conservatory in his hometown. He worked as
Kapellmeister at the
Staatstheater Wiesbaden. He was the chief conductor of the festival
Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele from 2005 to 2012, where he performed and recorded rarely played operas, including Salieri's opera
Les Danaïdes in 2006, and in 2008 the premiere of E. T. A. Hoffmann's
Liebe und Eifersucht which was never performed in the composer's lifetime. He performed there Verdi's
Il trovatore in a 2011 production with period instruments. A review noted that "Michael Hofstetter's well-chosen tempos, elegant yet unfussy phrasing, and precise control of dynamics propel the opera with real excitement". From 2006 to 2012, he was chief conductor of the
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, conducting premieres of works by
Moritz Eggert and
Helmut Oehring. Beginning in 2012, he has been
Generalmusikdirektor at the
Theater Gießen. He was also from 2012 to 2017 chief conductor of the orchestra . Hofstetter was professor of orchestral conducting and
Early Music at the
Hochschule für Musik Mainz. He is regarded as an expert for
historically informed performance. He has performed internationally at opera houses such as
Hamburgische Staatsoper,
Bavarian State Opera,
Staatsoper Stuttgart,
Deutsche Oper Berlin,
Staatsoper Hannover,
Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and the
Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, and at festivals including
styriarte in Graz the
Salzburg Festival. He has regularly worked at the from 1999, including
Partenope in 2011. At the
Houston Grand Opera, he conducted a production of
Béatrice et Bénédict by Berlioz in 2008, and Beethoven's
Fidelio in 2012. He conducted Mozart's
Le nozze di Figaro at the
Welsh National Opera in Cardiff in 2009, and Verdi's
La traviata at the
English National Opera in London in 2013, staged by
Peter Konwitschny. Hofstetter was nominated as Conductor of the Year several times, for Wagner's
Tristan und Isolde at the
Opernhaus Dortmund in 2000, for Hasse's
Didone abbandonata at the
Prinzregententheater in Munich in 2011, and in 2013 for his work as GMD in Gießen, which included Handel's
Agrippina and Weber's
Der Freischütz. == Awards ==