Johannes Winkler (conductor)

Johannes Winkler (born April 6, 1950 in Radeberg ; † June 18, 1989 in Magdeburg ) was a German conductor .

life and work

Childhood, studies

Born in Radeberger, he received piano lessons from the age of seven . From 1960 to 1968 he was a Crucian under the direction of Rudolf Mauersberger . From 1968 to 1974 he studied at the Dresden University of Music a . a. Orchestra conducting with Rudolf Neuhaus and composition with Karl-Rudi Griesbach . He received lessons on the piano and bassoon. He was a prizewinner in the Weimar improvisation competition and in 1973 double winner of the Carl-Maria-von-Weber competition in conducting and composition. From 1973 he also worked as a solo repetitor at the Dresden State Opera .

At a Weimar student seminar he met the Latvian conductor Arvīds Jansons . With this he had an aspirantur in Leningrad from 1974 to 1976 .

Career and death

In 1976 he became conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic . From 1983 to 1985 he was musical director of the Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin , and in 1985 he became chief conductor of the Leipzig Opera . Before that, he had also made guest appearances at the State Operas in Berlin (premiere “The Sicilian Vespers”) and Dresden (premiere “The Flying Dutchman”) as well as in what was then “socialist countries” and in Germany.

Winkler was killed in a traffic accident in June 1989.

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Winkler in the catalog of the German National Library
• The conductor Johannes Winkler during the rehearsal with the Dresden Philharmonic. In: Deutsche Fotothek . February 11, 1984, accessed January 1, 2020 . 
• Discography at Discogs