On 7 and 8 May, Omer Meir Wellber will present the KaiserRequiem, his own creation of Mozart’s Requiem and Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, at the Philharmonie de Paris.
7 and 8 May Paris, Philharmonie de Paris
Orchestre de Paris, Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris
KaiserRequiem
Further information here.
Yesterday, Omer Meir Wellber, General Music Director Designate of the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, Tobias Kratzer, Artistic Director Designate of the Hamburg State Opera and Demis Volpi, Artistic Director of the Hamburg Ballet, presented the Hamburg State Opera’s program for the 2025/26 season.
Please find the new program brochure, which for the first time presents the entire program of the house in one, here and the microsite of the Hamburg State Opera under the following link: die-hamburgische-staatsoper.de/vorschau
Happy reading and exploring!
Omer Meir Wellber concludes his time as music director at the Teatro Massio in Palermo with the New Year’s Concert. However, he will return to the house as a guest conductor in April and May to conduct a new production of Strauss’ Salome.
On January 25, 2025, a new production of the KaiserRequiem will premiere at the Vienna Volksoper, his own creation of Mozart’s Requiem and Viktor Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis, with the Vienna State Ballet (choreography and direction Andreas Heise). In 2024, Omer Meir Wellber conducted a very special world premiere at the Volksoper: the new opera by composer Ella Milch-Sheriff ALMA which was a big success. In May, the KaiserRequiem will be presented in a semi-staged performance at the Philharmonie de Paris under the direction of Omer Meir Wellber with the Orchestre de Paris.
The spring will take Omer Meir Wellber first to London to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and then to Leipzig to the Gewandhaus Orchestra. From September 2025, he will begin his first season as General Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Hamburg State Opera and Hamburg General Music Director of the Philharmonic State Orchestra.
omermeirwellber.com
For Omer Meir Wellber, the new year begins with a very special program at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. Together with Guy Mintus and the orchestra and choir of the Teatro Massimo, he presents a concert program that combines Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony with improvisations on Neapolitan songs.
1 January 2025, 6 pm | Sala Grande, Teatro Massimo
Omer Meir Wellber – conductor and accordion
Guy Mintus – piano and orchestrations
Orchestra and choir of the Teatro Massimo
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major op. 90 (arrangement by Guy Mintus with improvisations on Neapolitan songs)
Further information on the evening’s program at teatromassimo.it
Omer Meir Wellber conducts the premiere of “Le Grand Macabre” at the season opening of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo on November 24, 2024. The opera by György Ligeti is directed by Barbora Horáková.
“Ever since my arrival in Palermo as music director of the Teatro Massimo,” says Maestro Omer Meir Wellber, ”I have had the goal of staging György Ligeti’s “Le Grand Macabre” a work that deals with the theme of the relationship between dictatorship and freedom, between ruler and ruled, and it does so from so many aspects, ranging from the macro level to the minimal level of the affairs of individuals, from the politics of states to the life of couples. It is a thought-provoking work, but it is also very, very funny. Musically, too, it seems to me to be very suitable for the Teatro Massimo: I find that the more history-rich, classical, imposing a theater is, the more successful modern titles seem to be, they seem better suited to be performed here. Already upon entering this theater one grasps all the tradition behind it, and that is also the case with this music, which is very modern and has a peculiar language, but comes from all the great Western musical tradition. All the work done together with the orchestra over these five years has been to prepare this opera, which is the most complex challenge we have faced. After Parsifal, after Tristan und Isolde, after so many projects in which they also approached the music as improvisation, they are now faced with a score that is difficult not only to play but also to manage: I am thinking especially of the percussion, which not only has complicated writing but has so many instruments among which to juggle. We have arrived together at the peak of a mountain, and it is quite a challenge.”
November 24 Palermo, Teatro Massimo Premiere
György Ligeti: Le Grand Macabre
Barbora Haráková, director
Further performances on 26, 28, 29.11 & 01.12
Omer Meir Wellber will conduct the new opera by composer Ella Milch-Sheriff:
ALMA, an opera about Alma Mahler-Werfel, will have its world premiere at the Volksoper Vienna on October 26.
“It has been a dream of mine for years to write an opera about Alma. I have often asked myself why she is not only fervently revered, but also passionately hated. Who was this Alma Schindler really, who wrote ‘I want to compose a really good opera’ in her diary at the age of 19? What happened that it never came to pass? I investigated all these questions together with the Israeli author Ido Ricklin, who wrote a highly exciting libretto,” says Ella Milch-Sheriff.
Ella Milch-Sheriff: Alma
Opera in five acts
Libretto by Ido Ricklin
Translation from the Hebrew by Anke Rauthmann
Commissioned by the Volksoper Vienna
Further information can also be found here:
Ella Milch-Sheriff’s new opera ALMA: world premiere on October 26 (August 2024)
On 4 October, a new recording with Omer Meir Wellber conducting the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and pianist Jonathan Biss will be released by Orchid Classic. The recording combines Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Sally Beamish’s “City Stanzas”, which was inspired by Beethoven’s piano concerto but also by Jonathan Biss’ virtuoso playing.
Further information on the recording as well as texts by Jonathan Biss and Sally Beamish on the pieces can be found at Orchid Classics.
Composer Sally Beamish and conductor Omer Meir Wellber already know each other from the BBC video conversation series The Music Room, which was created by Wellber in 2020 and focused on Beethoven’s nine symphonies. All episodes can be watched here.
Conductor Omer Meir Wellber and pianist Guy Mintus will present a special program at Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival:
On 26 August at Reithalle Elmshorn and on 27 August at Christkirche Rendsburg, they will play a program with the Vienna Volksoper Symphony Orchestra that interweaves Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony with improvisations on Venetian and Neapolitan folk songs. You’re in for a surprise!
The concert in Rendsburg on 27 August will be recorded by NDR and broadcast on NDR Kultur on 13 October 2024 at 21:30.
Omer Meir Wellber was the SHMF’s portrait artist in 2022 with 14 very different concerts in terms of form and line-up.
August 26, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Elmshorn Reithalle
Symphony Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major, op. 90 ‘Italian’ with improvisations on Venetian and Neapolitan folk songs
Guy Mintus – piano
Omer Meir Wellber – accordion and conductor
August 27, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rendsburg Christkirche
see program August 26
Omer Meir Wellber will conduct the world premiere of Ella Milch-Sheriff’s new opera ALMA on October 26, 2024 at Volksoper Wien. The opera tells the story of the infamous Alma Mahler-Werfel – the woman, the composer, the muse, femme fatale and great artist.
October 26, 2024 Vienna, Volksoper world premiere
Ella Milch-Sheriff: ALMA
Ido Ricklin – libretto
Omer Meir Wellber – conductor
Ruth Brauer-Kvam – stage direction
Ido Ricklin – Libretto
Comission of the Volksoper Wien, Intendant Lotte de Beer
Further performances on October 31, November 4, 6 and 9
(The performance on 9.11. will be conducted by Keren Kagarlitsky)
Please find the casting list here and the synopsis of the opera here. Find further information from the publishing house Edition Peters here.
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