biography

"The orchestra likes you, because you are inspiring!" Maestro James Levine said these words to Friedrich Haider, who had just made his stunning debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with Verdi¹s Rigoletto in the autumn of the year 2006. This distinction exemplifies much of what the most outstanding orchestras in the world value in Friedrich Haider. The Austrian conductor with Italian ancestors is one of the very few to dispel successfully the old cliché that sees a fundamental enmity between a conductor and his orchestra. Spirited rehearsals and the highest levels of motivation during a performance are only some of the many facets of his work. Continuous technical development is another fundamental hallmark of his work, making Haider an exception to the unwritten rules of the music business.

Since his opera debut in 1984, he has worked mainly at small and medium-sized houses, building up a repertoire of over 70 operas, in addition to a wide range of symphonic works. At the age of 29, in 1991, he became one of the youngest-ever music directors in history, assuming this post at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg; from there, he was invited more and more frequently to conduct at the world¹s leading opera houses, including those in Vienna, Munich, Dresden and New York. He has given successful symphonic performances with some of the world¹s leading orchestras, such as the London Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic, Göteborgs Symfoniker and the Milan Chamber Orchestra. After his brilliant debut with the Slovak Philharmonic, which he gave with a performance of Verdi¹s Messa da Requiem in 2001, he was made Principal Guest Conductor there.

In 2004, Friedrich Haider took over the Oviedo Filarmonía in Northern Spain, which has given superb performances under his baton since the very first symphony concerts. CD recordings with soloists of the Vienna Philharmonic (Brahms: Double Concerto), Wolf-Ferrari¹s Segreto di Susanna and acclaimed performances of de Falla¹s El Amor Brujo in the Bunka Kaikan Hall in Tokyo (2007) are only some of the many highlights stemming from this artistic association.