Stefan Blunier

Stefan Blunier (born August 11, 1964 in Bern ) is a Swiss conductor and pianist . From 2008 to 2016 he was General Music Director of the Federal City of Bonn and Chief Conductor of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and the Bonn Opera .

Life

Blunier first studied in his hometown at the Bern University of the Arts and from 1984 at the Folkwang University in Essen , u. a. with Reinhard Peters , the subjects horn , piano, composition and conducting. Even during his studies, Blunier performed internationally and participated in radio productions. With awards in important conducting competitions, in 1990 in Besançon and 1992 in Copenhagen , began a worldwide career as a conductor.

Initially employed as the second conductor and répétiteur at the Mainz State Theater , Blunier found his way to the Augsburg Theater in 1992 , where he held the position of first conductor. In 1995 he moved to the Nationaltheater Mannheim for six years , where he was also first conductor. In 2001 he was employed as general music director of the Darmstadt State Theater . From 2008 to 2016 Blunier was General Music Director of the Federal City of Bonn, which made him chief conductor of both the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and the Bonn Opera .

Guest conductors led him a. a. to some German radio symphony orchestras, to the Bavarian State Opera and the Deutsche Oper Berlin , to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the English National Opera in London as well as other orchestras and opera houses in more than ten countries. He is also the “Premier Chef Invité” of the Orchester National de Belgique in Brussels.

Blunier is married and has one son.

Awards

Under the direction of Blunier, the Beethoven Orchester Bonn has been awarded the ECHO Klassik five times since 2009 , for example in 2009 and 2011 in the category “Classical Music for Children” for the concert educational project “Bobby's Classics”, which Blunier helped initiate. In addition, Blunier and his orchestra received awards in 2011 and 2012 in the “Opera Recording of the Year” category for the revival of the Golem by Eugen d'Albert and the opera Irrelohe by Franz Schreker.

repertoire

Blunier's repertoire is described as versatile, with “programmatic preferences for the modern and the lesser known compositions of the late romantic era ”. An important topic for him is u. a. the promotion and presentation of rarely played compositions, especially rare operas, which he embeds in a classical repertoire in order to bring them closer to the listener. In order to achieve this goal, Blunier introduces the audience to the program before each concert.

Recordings

Blunier's discography with the labels cpo , Sony and Dabringhaus & Grimm includes productions by composers such as Eugen d'Albert, Anton Bruckner , Franz Liszt , Franz Schreker and Arnold Schönberg .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} biography Stefan Blunier website of the Allgäuer Tonkünstlerverband. PDF document accessed on May 17, 2012.
2. ↑ Biography Stefan Blunier  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Website of the Theater Bonn. Retrieved May 17, 2012.  
3. ↑ ^{a b} Stefan Blunier - making nails with heads. Portrait in Orpheus magazine on April 3, 2010 (PDF), accessed on May 17, 2012.
4. ↑ Press release Echo in a double pack PDF document accessed on May 17, 2012.