Peter Schneider (conductor)

Peter Schneider (born March 26, 1939 in Vienna ) is an Austrian conductor .

Professional background

Peter Schneider was a member of the Vienna Boys' Choir from 1949 to 1953 and made his first acquaintance with the opera . After graduating from high school in 1957, he began studying composition with Karl Schiske at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and studying conducting with Hans Swarowsky .

In 1959 he had his first engagement as a répétiteur at the Landestheater Salzburg . From 1961 to 1968 he was director of studies and conductor at the Heidelberg City Theaters . From 1968 to 1978 he was first conductor at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf-Duisburg. From 1978 to 1985 he was general music director in Bremen , from 1985 to 1987 general music director and opera director in Mannheim and from 1993 to 1998 chief conductor of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, thereafter principal guest conductor there. Schneider is a permanent guest conductor in Vienna , Dresden , Munich, Hamburg , Berlin (Deutsche Oper), Zurich and has made guest appearances in Europe, the USA ( Metropolitan Opera New York , San Francisco Opera ) and Tokyo . Four times in a row he was voted “Best Conductor of the Year” by a jury of critics in Barcelona . Since 1990 he has played a decisive role in shaping the artistic profile of the Semperoper Dresden.

Schneider conducts at the Salzburg Festival ( Don Giovanni , Rosenkavalier , Magic Flute ) and the Munich Opera Festival (primarily Mozart, Wagner, Richard Strauss). From 1981 to 2012 he was a conductor at the Bayreuth Festival (142 performances of the Flying Dutchman , Lohengrin , Ring des Nibelungen , Tristan and Isolde in 20 seasons ). This makes him the most frequent conductor at the Bayreuth Festival (ahead of Horst Stein and Daniel Barenboim with 17 festivals each).

Awards

• Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art
• Bavarian Order of Merit
• Honorary membership of the Vienna State Opera (2004)
• Winner of the Semperoper Dresden Foundation (2008)

Discography

Operas

• Antonín Dvořák : Rusalka , complete recording. Behrens, Cornell, Didusch, Smith, Götz, Svobodová-Janku, Parker, Hoyem. Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf 1975
• Leoš Janáček : Jenůfa , complete recording. Serra, Stemme, Marton, Lindskog, Haunstein, Silvasti, Boesinger, Alberdi. Barcelona Gran Teatre del Liceu Orchestra, Barcelona 2007 (DVD)
• Wilhelm Killmayer : Yolimba , complete recording. Kinzel, Ulbrich, Subrata, Swensen, Kleinherz, Venuti, Farinelli, Kloose, Assenheimer, Weber, Prégardien, Ross, Titus. Bavarian Radio Choir, Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1991
• Richard Wagner : Lohengrin , complete recording. Studer, Frey, Schulte, Wlaschiha, Schenk. Bayreuth Festival Choir and Bayreuth Festival Orchestra 1992 (CD), 2008 (DVD)
• Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde , complete recording. Christoph Marthaler , Anna Viebrock ; Theorin, Smith, Holl, Rasilainen, Breedt. Bayreuth Festival Choir and Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, 2009 (DVD)
• Josef Suk : Symphony in C minor, Op. 27 ( Asrael ). Montpellier Philharmonic Orchestra, 2000

Singer portraits

• Edda Moser , Hildegard Behrens , Lioba Braun (2005), Ben Heppner (2006)

See also

• List of conductors at the Bayreuth Festival

literature

• Alexander Rausch : Schneider, Peter. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3046-5 .

Web links

• Media from and about Peter Schneider in the catalog of the German National Library