Kurt Meister was born in Munich, Germany. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Munich where he studied bassoon.

After commitments with German theatres such as Aachen, Essen and Mainz, he played the bassoon in the Bavarian State Opera from 1973 until 1989.

In 1976 Kurt Meister took over management of the Bavarian State Opera and was responsible for academy concerts with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Carlos Kleiber, Karl Böhm and Rafael Kubelik.

In 1989 the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Broadcast Company assigned him to be their new Managing Director. In this role he was responsible for finding a new chief conductor in Lorin Maazel in 1993. Mr. Meister worked with Lorin Maazel for 10 years and with more than 450 concerts.

During his tenure at the Bavarian Broadcast Company Kurt Meister had the pleasure of inviting soloists and guest conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta and Mstlav Rostropovich.

In 1993 he was also awarded management of the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Choir of the Bavarian Broadcast Corporation. The Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Broadcast Company under the management of Kurt Meister has been recognized as one of the top five orchestras in the world. He has also founded, in cooperation with AUDI, an internationally renowned music festival.

In 2007, Kurt Meister was nominated Managing Director of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2010 he was appointed Executive Director.