Alexander Soddy

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Alexander Soddy (born December 20, 1982 in Oxford ) is a British conductor and pianist.

Since the 2016/17 season, Soddy has been general music director at the Nationaltheater Mannheim and, in this function, also artistic director of the Musical Academy of the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim eV From 2013 to 2016 he was chief conductor at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt . From 2010 to 2012 he was employed as Kapellmeister at the Hamburg State Opera .

Artistic career

Alexander Soddy was born in Oxford and trained as a choirboy at Magdalen College in his hometown , before studying conducting and singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the same time he was a piano student of the pianist and chamber music expert Michael Dussek. Soddy then studied musicology and analysis at Cambridge with a choir scholarship from Selwyn College . After completing his studies in 2004, he was hired as répétiteur and conductor at the National Opera Studio in London, where he was supported by the Friends of Covent Garden and Scottish Opera.

In October 2005, Alexander Soddy became répétiteur at the Hamburg State Opera and after a short time became the first musical assistant to General Music Director Simone Young . From 2010 to 2012 he was employed as Kapellmeister at the Hamburg State Opera. In the 2008/09 season he made his debut at this house with Mozart's Magic Flute , where he subsequently conducted a. a. La bohème , Rigoletto , Don Giovanni , La traviata , Lucia di Lammermoor as well as Gounod's Faust and Bizet's Carmen . This was followed by engagements at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich ( Die Zauberflöte, La bohème ), the Staatsoper Berlin ( Die Zauberflöte , Der Freischütz ) and the Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm ( La bohème , Madama Butterfly ). From 2013 to 2016 he was chief conductor at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, where he led a. a. the new productions of Rosenkavalier and Macbeth . In the new production of the Ring des Nibelungen in Bayreuth from 2013 to 2015, he was the musical director of studies alongside Kirill Petrenko . In the 2014/15 season Soddy made his debut at the Frankfurt Opera and the Cologne Opera . In the 2017/18 season he made his debut at houses such as the New York Metropolitan Opera with Puccini's La bohème , at the Semperoper Dresden with Weber's Freischütz , at the Vienna State Opera with Il barbiere di Siviglia and at the English National Opera with Britten's A Midsummer Nights's Dream .

Alexander Soddy has been General Music Director at the Nationaltheater Mannheim since the beginning of the 2016/17 season and has so far conducted the premieres of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida , Schumann's Genoveva , Beethoven's Fidelio and Mozart's Don Giovanni as well as numerous revivals, including Hansel and Gretel , Madama Butterfly , Elektra , Der Rosenkavalier , Tannhauser , Lohengrin and Parsifal . Under his direction, a large-scale Bruckner cycle will be performed in the National Theater Orchestra's academy concerts. In addition, he campaigns for works that are rarely heard in Germany, such as Benjamin Britten's War Requiem and the world premiere of symphonic commissioned works. In the 2018/19 season, Soddy directed the new productions Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (director: Nigel Lowery) and Pelléas et Mélisande (director: Barrie Kosky ) at the Mannheim National Theater . In addition, he conducted at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the State Opera in Berlin ; In addition to the academy concerts in Mannheim, concert engagements have taken him to Germany and the USA.

Personal

Alexander Soddy lives in Mannheim with his wife, the soprano Trine Wilsberg Lund, and two daughters. His parents and two siblings live in Oxfordshire and London, England. Alexander Soddy is related to Frederick Soddy , 1921 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry.

Press reviews

  • “The musical side (of the Mozart premiere“ Don Giovanni ”) was completely successful that evening, indeed it was downright enthusiastic. The Mannheim Opera Orchestra played well rehearsed, extremely inspired and sounded beautifully. GMD Alexander Soddy worked out the drama of the music effectively. He designed the increases in an exciting way, emphasized the changing dynamics with striking sforzati and crescendos, and created great lines. In this way the music gained transparency and volume. «(Bachtrack, July 17, 2018)
  • “What comes to an end here is not music, it is not a symphony or anything like that. It is the darkness, the doubt, that gnaws at us. A kind of white mass, then. And when it comes to an end in the Mannheim rose garden (...), there is no cheering. It is a hoot that has not been seen in an academy concert, at least in the past 13 years. (...) Soddy manages to free Bruckner from any earthiness with a completely light and (...) unobstructed approach (...) and let him fly. (...) Soddy takes care of things on the spot and knows what belongs where. That leads to an unbelievably perfect sound image. «- Stefan Dettlinger (Mannheimer Morgen, July 3, 2018)
  • »How Soddy holds the three levels of the work ( War Requiem by Benjamin Britten ) (...) together and skillfully merges: great! (...) In general, this evening turns out to be the most impressive thing that the academy has produced in recent years. The sadness and jubilation last a long time. "(Mannheimer Morgen, April 2018)
  • "Britten's atmospheric score, with its contrasting textures for the three worlds, is beautifully played under the Germany-based English conductor Alexander Soddy, a notable ENO debut." - Martin Kettle (The Guardian, March 2, 2018)
  • "The orchestra is in extremely good shape after being taken over by General Music Director Alexander Soddy." - Stefan Dettlinger (Mannheimer Morgen, January 11, 2017)
  • »Alexander Soddy, the young orchestra leader, is - after four encounters in the last few years, this may be said more emphatically - one of the most eminent conducting talents in opera for years. In these actually undramatic "conversations" (meaning the opera "Dialogoues des Carmélites") (...) he instinctively sets  dramatic accents, as it were, from within. The delicate color and luminosity that he creates thanks to the fabulous homogeneity and playing culture of the Carinthian Symphony Orchestra is exemplary. His infallible sense of sound benefits the idiom of the work perfectly, gives it intelligent contours and, through its austere beauty, banishes the ever latent danger of being suspected of being kitsch. «- Karl Harb (Salzburger Nachrichten, February 21, 2015)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bruckner cycle | Musical Academy . In: Musical Academy . ( musische-akademie.de [accessed on October 25, 2018]).
  2. ↑ 6th Academy Concert 17/18 | Musical Academy . In: Musical Academy . ( musische-akademie.de [accessed on October 25, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Bachtrack, July 17, 2018
  4. ^ The Guardian, March 2, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Soddy, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British conductor and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH Oxford