Friedrich Haider
As one of the composer’s leading champions, Friedrich Haider is completely at home with this score, and he makes sure the Oviedo Filarmonia maintain a textbook balance of affection and wit. Opera, August 2019

Since the 2017/18 season, Austrian-born Friedrich Haider has been First Guest Conductor of Theater und Philharmonie Essen, where his repertoire includes Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Verdi’s Don Carlo. He conducted Verdi’s La traviata for the opening of the 2019/20 Staatsoper Stuttgart season to much acclaim and will return for Bellini’s Norma in 2022.

During the 2017/18 season, Friedrich Haider conducted numerous performances of Mozart operas as well as Bach’s St Matthew Passion as Chief Conductor of the renowned Polish early music ensemble Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense. The list of his international concert engagements is impressive, including Camerata Salzburg, Chamber Orchestra of Milano, Czech Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Göteborgs Symfoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic.

Friedrich Haider has conducted than 60 operas, from Mozart‘s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Verdi‘s Rigoletto, Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles, Gounod’s Faust, Wagner’s Lohengrin, Strauss’ Salome and Ariadne auf Naxos to Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns,and Strauß’ Die Fledermaus at opera houses worldwide, including Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden, De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Gran Teatro Liceu in Barcelona, Metropolitan Opera in New York, Dresden Semperoper, Teatro La Fenice in Venice and Wiener Staatsoper.

Under his artistic direction until 2011, Oviedo Filarmonia developed into a highly interesting orchestra. Highlights of their collaboration were tours of Paris and Tokyo as well the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (Award of the German Recording Critics) for their recording of Wolf-Ferrari’s Violin Concerto. Since 2003, Friedrich Haider has dedicated much of his interest to this German-Italian composer, impressively documented by recordings of all his orchestral works as well as his operas I gioielli della Madonna (nominated for the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2016) and Il segreto di Susanna.

First Guest Conductor Theater und Philharmonie Essen.