Huw Rhys James

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Huw Rhys James (born in Oxford ) is a British pianist , conductor and choir director who lives and works in Vienna .

life and work

A degree in German at the University of Bristol was followed by studies in composition, piano and conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna from 1984 to 1992 . He also studied historical performance practice with Andrew Parrott and Howard Arman . In the field of early music he was the musical assistant to Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Thomas Hengelbrock .

His career began as a répétiteur in the opera studio of the Vienna State Opera . In 1992 he received his first position as a conductor at the Linz State Theater . In 1994 he returned to Vienna, where he was engaged as musical assistant and conductor at the Vienna Volksoper until 2002. There he conducted My Fair Lady , Gian Carlo Menottis Konsul and the Donizetti operas Don Pasquale and L'elisir d'amore . Further engagements took him to the United Bühnen Wien , the KlangBogen Wien , the Burgtheater Wien and the Wiener Kammeroper . In 1996 and 1997 he was assistant to the choir director of the Bayreuth Festival , Norbert Balatsch . From 2002 to 2007 James was the conductor of the Mozart Festival in the Burgarena Reinsberg in Lower Austria , where he conducted the three Da Ponte operas as well as Die Zauberflöte and Die Entführung aus dem Serail . In 2004 he composed the incidental music for Claude Stratz 'production of Molière's The Imaginary Sick at the Theater in der Josefstadt . Since 2011 he has been working with the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor , since 2013 as deputy choir director under choir director Ernst Raffelsberger . At Whitsun and in summer 2014 he was responsible for the choir rehearsals for the Salzburg Festival production of La Cenerentola .

In 1996, together with Anna-Maria Birnbauer, he founded the Musikwerkstatt Wien , an Austrian ensemble for contemporary and baroque music theater . In 1999 the ensemble made its debut - with Huw Rhys James as conductor - at the Wiener Konzerthaus and co-produced the opera Der Zerrissene by Gottfried von Eine with the Vienna State Opera . This was followed by invitations to the Autumn Music Festival 2000 in Odense , Denmark , the Music Biennale in Zagreb and the Chicago Humanities Festival . The recording of Philip Glass ' The Fall of House of Usher was widely praised . Another important aspect of his work is the promotion of young Austrian composers, u. a. through orders for new works. The Musikwerkstatt Wien presented some world premieres (U), as well as European (EE) and Austrian premieres (ÖE). The nine-act opera Father Murder by the Austrian composer Shih was recorded by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation in December 2000 and was released as a CD in the ORF Edition in 2002.

In 2001 the artist founded the Baroque orchestra Musica Poetica Wien. With this ensemble he conducted the Austrian premieres of the Handel operas Orlando and Tamerlano , as well as The Beggar's Opera by John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch . In 2007 the rediscovery of Leonardo Vinci's opera L'Artaserse followed , and in 2009 the Vienna premiere of Francesco Conti's Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena . The last two productions are part of the Rediscovering Rokoko project .

Huw Rhys James is also a busy concert pianist and chamber musician. So far, tours have taken him to England, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the United States and China.

Since 2002 he has been a lecturer for score playing and accompaniment at the Vienna Conservatory , where he also directed the youth orchestra from 2002 to 2004.

As conductor of the Musikwerkstatt Wien (selection)

Publications

  • Huw Rhys James is editor of the Urtext Edition "Rediscovering Rokoko - Wiener Hofoper vor Mozart".
    • Volume 1 L`Artaserse by Leonardo Vinci (1730)
    • Volume 2 Don Chisiciotte in Sierra Morena by Francesco Conti (1719)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME James, Huw Rhys
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British pianist, conductor and choir director
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Oxford