Jan Vogler with Friedrich Gulda’s cello concerto in Vienna (June 2024)

Cellist Jan Vogler will travel to Vienna on 27 and 29 June with a special program under the baton of conductor Omer Meir Wellber to play Friedrich Gulda’s concerto for cello and wind orchestra at  Volksoper.

The concerto for cello and wind orchestra by Vienna-born Friedrich Gulda is a rarely performed work, which also stands out because of its special instrumentation. The premiere took place in 1981 with Heinrich Schiff, one of Jan Vogler’s teachers, and Wiener Bläserensemble under the direction of the composer.

June 27 & 29, Vienna, Volksoper Vienna
Orchestra of the Volksoper Vienna, Omer Meir Wellber
Gulda: Concerto for cello and wind orchestra
Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, op. 34
Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D major, D 200

Omer Meir Wellber and Jan Vogler know each other from various projects, such as the CD recording of Pop Songs (Sony Classical, 2022) and concerts at the Dresden Music Festival, among others. On June 22 and 28, Wellber, who has just conducted the new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde by Daniele Menghini at the Teatro Massimo, will conduct Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Volksoper Vienna. Further information on omermeirwellber.com

Jan Vogler is currently the artistic director of the Dresden Music Festival in Dresden, where the festival is taking place until June 9. Yesterday he played Anna Clyne’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra Dance with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Kulturpalast, followed by concerts in Heidenheim with the Dresden Festival Orchestra on June 10, in Rostock with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie on June 16, 17 and 18 and at Schloss Neuhardenberg on June 19. His latest CD recording with the world premiere recording of Enrique Casal’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in F major and Edouard Lalo’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D minor was released by Sony Classical in March 2023 – together with the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, the CD commemorates the 200th birthday of Édouard Lalo and is also a tribute to Pablo Casals on the 50th anniversary of his death. These pieces were recorded with the 50 young musicians of the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra under the direction of Josep Caballé Domenech.

Further information at janvogler.com

Omer Meir Wellber at State Opera Hamburg, Teatro Massimo and Volksoper Vienna (May & June 2024)

On short notice, Omer Meir Wellber, designated music director of the Hamburg State Opera and Orchestra from September 2025 onwards, will jump in for two performances on June 16 and on June 20 of a revival production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Hamburg State Opera, leading from the Hammerklavier as he often does in this repertoire. Hamburg audiences have seen him on several occasions in the past years, for example, as artist-in-residence of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2022 as well as guest-conducting at the Elbphilharmonie.

Today, May 29 and on May 31, the final two performances of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in the hugely successful new production by Daniele Menghini, take place under Wellber’s direction at Teatro Massimo in Palermo. The famous Swedish soprano Nina Stemme is looking at singing her last “Isolde” in tonight’s performance!

At the end of June before heading to Israel to work with his orchestra Raanana Symphonette in early July, Omer Meir Wellber will end the season in Vienna conducting Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte on June 22 and June 28 as well as a symphonic concert on June 27 and June 29 at the Volksoper with guest soloist Jan Vogler playing the rarely performed cello concerto by Friedrich Gulda.

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May 29 & 31, Palermo, Teatro Massimo
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

www.teatromassimo.it

June 16 & 20, Hamburg, State Opera                               
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Così fan tutte

www.staatsoper-hamburg.de

June 22 & 28, Vienna, Volksoper
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Zauberflöte

www.volksoper.at/production/die-zauberflote

June 27 & 29, Vienna, Volksoper
Friedrich Gulda: Concerto for cello and wind orchestra
Sergei Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, op. 34
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D major, D 200
Jan Vogler, cello

www.volksoper.at/production/konzert-gulda

Omer Meir Wellber conducts Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” at Teatro Massimo in Palermo (May 2024)

Omer Meir Wellber conducts the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg and Lübeck (April 2024)

The Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber will conduct the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg and Lübeck on April 18, 19 and 21. The program includes Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Ravel’s 2nd Piano Concerto and Schubert’s 3rd Symphony. The concert on April 21 at 11 a.m. will be broadcast live on the radio on NDR Kultur.

April 18 & 21     Hamburg, Elbphilharmonie
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite Op. 80
Ravel: 2nd Piano Concerto
Schubert: Symphony No. 3

April 19              Lübeck, Music and Congress Hall
Program see April 18

Omer Meir Wellber on tour in Asia with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (March 2024)

Today, conductor Omer Meir Wellber set off on a two-week tour of Asia with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The tour program includes nine concerts with three different programs in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

In Japan, works by Brahms, the 1st Symphony and the 1st Piano Concerto with pianist Hisako Kawamura will be performed under the direction of Omer Meir Wellber. In Korea, the program includes Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Bomsori and the 1st Symphony by Johannes Brahms; in Taiwan, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus and Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” Overture.

“Asia is one of the regular stops on the Vienna Symphony Orchestra’s annual tour calendar,” says Artistic Director Jan Nast. “As the orchestra of the City of Vienna, we are ambassadors for one of the world’s most important music capitals. Last year in Korea and China, we experienced how enthusiastically our music is received in Asia – it makes me and the orchestra proud to be regularly invited to Japan, Korea and Taiwan.”

“It’s very nice to be back on tour with this orchestra,” says conductor Omer Meir Wellber. “After performing Beethoven’s 9th with the Symphony Orchestra at the Vienna Konzerthaus on New Year’s Eve, I am very pleased that we are now touring Asia with this work and a varied program, thus engaging in a musical dialogue with our audience there.”

All tour dates:

March 13 Tokyo, Suntory Hall
Brahms: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in D minor
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, op. 68

March 14 Tokyo, Suntory Hall
Beethoven: Symphony No.8 in F major
Beethoven: Symphony No.7 in A major

March 15 Hyogo, Hyogo Performing Arts Center
Program see March 13

March 17 Daegu, Daegu Concert House
Tchaikovsky: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, op. 35
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, op. 68

March 19 Sejong, Sejong Art Center
Program see March 17

March 20 Seoul, Seoul Arts Center
Program see March 17

March 22 Taipei, National Concert Hall
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, op. 125

Hila Baggio, soprano
Stefanie Iranyi, mezzo-soprano
Michael Schade, tenor
Erwin Schrott, bass-baritone

March 23 Tainan, Cultural Center, Performance Hall
Program see March 22

March 24 Tainan, Concert Hall
Program see March 22

Omer Meir Wellber’s concerts at the beginning of 2024 (February 2024)

After his New Year’s Eve and New Year’s concerts at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Omer Meir Wellber will be devoting January to the Vienna Volksoper and “his” Ranaana Symphonette in Israel, with which he spent a three-day-festival in Eilat. At the end of January and beginning of February, Omer Meir Wellber will return to Paris to the Orchestre National de France with a special program of Bach/Webern, Aziza Sadikova and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony.

This will be followed in early February by a symphony concert with L’Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in Rome and performances of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, before he then goes on tour with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in Japan, Korea and Taiwan in March. In April, Omer Meir Wellber will perform with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

Omer Meir Wellber and the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini can be experienced on the YouTube channel of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele:

Omer Meir Wellber conducts Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Ella Milch-Sheriff’s “The Eternal Stranger” at New Year’s Eve concerts at the Wiener Konzerthaus (December 2023)

Omer Meir Wellber will conduct the New Year’s Eve concerts at the Wiener Konzerthaus on December 30 and 31, 2023 and January 1, 2024. The program includes Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which the Wiener Symphoniker and the Wiener Singakademie traditionally perform at the turn of the year. On December 30, there will also be the Austrian premiere of “The Eternal Stranger”, a monodrama by Israeli composer Ella Milch-Sheriff with actor Eli Danker, who is well-known from film and television.

December 30                    Vienna, Konzerthaus
Wiener Symphoniker
Ella Milch-Sheriff: The Eternal Stranger. Monodrama for an actor and orchestra
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor op. 125
Omer Meir Wellber, conductor

December 31, January 1              Vienna, Konzerthaus
Wiener Symphoniker
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor op. 125
Omer Meir Wellber, conductor

Omer Meir Wellber: I Capuleti e I Montecchi premiere and stream on 26.11.23 (November 2023)

Today, Omer Meir Wellber will conduct the premiere of Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

The performance of the opera on Sunday, November 26, 2023 will be streamed live on teatromassimo.it from 5.15 pm (CET) and will be available for 30 days.

“We are opening the season with a ‘Sicilian’ masterpiece such as I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Bellini’s favorite opera”, says Omer Meir Wellber, “with a combination of music and dance created with director and choreographer Idan Cohen (…). The protagonist couple, Romeo and Juliet, are entrusted to two female voices, as in Bellini’s score, with Romeo being “en travestie”. A stylistic choice that has to do with the customs of the time and which also has a political value today, as it shows how similar the characters of the two conflicting parties are, both vocally and as human beings.”

“The setting of the opera is a dystopian taxidermic museum with infinity mirrors, masterfully designed by Riccardo Massironi. The costumes designed by Edoardo Russo enhance the atmosphere and contribute to the portrayal of the young female lovers in this unique setting,” adds Idan Cohen.

November 22 Palermo, Teatro Massimo          Premiere

Vincenzo Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Idan Cohen –  director
Further performances: November 23, 24, 25, 26, 28

Omer Meir Wellber at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig (October 2023)

On 19 and 20 October, Omer Meir Wellber, together with the Gewandhausorchester, Michael Schönheit on the organ and Geir Draugsvoll on the accordion, will present the world premiere of Aziza Sadikova‘s work Strahlen des Feuers for orchestra, accordion and organ. The work commissioned by the Gewandhaus will be paired with works by Haydn and Bruckner.

More information here.

19, 20 October  Leipzig, Gewandhaus
Gewandhausorchester
Haydn: Sinfonie d-Moll Hob
Aziza Sadikova: Strahlen des Feuers für Orgel, Akkordeon und Orchester (world premiere)
Bruckner: Sinfonie d-Moll (“Die Nullte”)
Michael Schönheit – Organ
Geir Draugsvoll – Accordion

Omer Meir Wellber with Salome at the Volksoper in Vienna (September 2023)

Today, 15 September, Omer Meir Wellber presents an opera production at the Volksoper Wien that is very special for him – Richard Strauss’ Salome. Omer Meir Wellber had a special relationship with Luc Bondy (1948 – 2015) since his collaboration with him for a production of Rigoletto at the Theater an der Wien in 2011 and his direction of two further productions, La Traviata (2012) and Il Trovatore (2013), during Luc Bondy’s directorship of the Wiener Festwochen. Now Luc Bondy’s production of Salome, which premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 1992, is premiering in Vienna under the musical direction of Omer Meir Wellber in a scenic rehearsal by Marie-Louise Bischofberger-Bondy.

15 September Vienna, Volksoper              premiere
Richard Strauss: Salome
Recreation of the 1992 Salzburg Festival production by Luc Bondy
Scenic rehearsal Marie-Louise Bischofberger-Bondy
Further performances: 18, 22 September, 23, 26, 29 October