Long Biography
The Austrian conductor Johannes Wildner impresses in the operatic and symphonic field with his great knowledge of repertoire, his stylistic confidence, his clear conducting technique and his ability to inspire musicians and audiences. In his previous positions, he has also demonstrated his great qualities as an orchestra trainer, creative program planner and imaginative developer of new audiences.
Johannes Wildner studied conducting (with Karl Österreicher, Otmar Suite and Vladimir Delman), violin and musicology in Vienna and Parma. His years of experience as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra have given his conducting a distinctive stamp.
After positions as Chief Conductor of the Košice State Philharmonic Orchestra (Slovakia, 1990-93), the Prague State Opera (1994-95) and First Permanent Conductor of the Leipzig Opera (1996-98), Johannes Wildner was General Music Director of the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, which has also been the opera orchestra of the Musiktheater im Revier (1997-2007), Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in London (2010-2014) and Chief Conductor of the Danish Philharmonic Orchestra in Sønderborg from 2019-2024.
From 2014-2023, he was a university professor for conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (MDW) and was artistic director of the Austrian opera festival Oper Burg Gars, where he conducted Verdi’s “Aida” as his last production in Gars in 2023 after the very successful productions of “Don Carlo”, “Otello”, “Zauberflöte”, “Tosca”, “Fidelio”, and “Carmen”.
As part of his regular collaboration with the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra, Johannes Wildner conducts regularly at the Vienna Musikverein, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonie, the KKL Luzern and on Asian tours in Japan, China and Korea.
As a guest conductor, Johannes Wildner regularly conducts major orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the ORF-RSO Vienna, the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bulgarian Philharmonic Orchestra Sofia, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra Copenhagen, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gelders Orkest in Arnhem, the Aarhus Symphony, the Orchestre de Bretagne, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico, the Taiwan Philharmonic Orchestra, the China Philharmonic, the Shanghai Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
In addition to his engagements at the Prague State Opera, the Leipzig Opera (TV recordings of Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” and “Così fan tutte”) and the Musiktheater im Revier/Gelsenkirchen, Johannes Wildner has also conducted at opera houses like the Volksoper Vienna, the Graz Opera House, the Salzburg and Linz State Theatres, the Arena di Verona, the New National Theatre in Tokyo, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, the Lithuanian Opera in Vilnius, the National Theater in Bucharest, the National Opera Bratislava, as well as at the Seefestspiele Moerbisch, the Metropol Theater Berlin, the Carinthian Summer Festival, the Opera Festival St. Margarethen; the NCPA in Mumbai, or the “Festival de Mayo” in Guadalajara/Mexico.
Johannes Wildner has recorded over 100 CDs, DVDs and videos with a broad opera and concert repertoire, including the complete recordings of “Die Fledermaus”, “Così fan tutte” for Naxos and a live recording of Bizet’s “Carmen”, Bruckner’s 3rd (in all versions) and 9th symphonies (with reconstructed 4th movement) or the complete piano and orchestra works by Robert Schumann with ORF RSO Vienna and Lev Vinocour for Sony RCA Red Seal, Beethoven’s 7th Symphony and his Violin Concerto with Alexandre da Costa and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra for Warner.
His interest in rarely played or forgotten music is also documented by numerous recordings: Works by Erich Zeisl, Joseph Marx and Johann Nepomuk David with the ORF-RSO Vienna for cpo; Joseph Marx “Herbstsinfonie” with the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, or works by Frédéric d’Erlanger Walter Braunfels or Charles Martin Loeffler with the BBC Orchestra for Dutton Records.
www.johanneswildner.com
10/2024