Michael Guettler

Biography

The Dresden-born conductor moved eventually to the front row of the young generation of conductors with his sensational substitution at short notice of Valery Gergiev in the Ring of the Nibelung (Wagner) and Parsifal at the Mariinsky Theatre in January/March 2003. After his studies of violin, trumpet, piano and choir conducting and his studies at the Music University “Carl Maria von Weber” (orchestra conducting), as well as numerous master classes (e.g. with L. Bernstein, S. Celibidache, M. Caridis, I. Musin, V. Gergiev). At the beginning of his international activities he won numerous conductor contests (Wettbewerb der Europäischen Gemeinschaft “Franco Capuana” Spoleto, Italy, 1996; “Bottega” Treviso, Italy, 1994; Internationales Dirgentenforum Hamm, 1993; “Conduct for Dance” London, 1993, etc.). From 1998 to 2002 he was Austria’s youngest chief conductor at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt. Since 2002 he has been Permanent Guest Conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg (The Ring of the Nibelung, Parsifal, Tristan and Isolde, Flying Dutchman, Falstaff, Don Carlo, Aida, La Traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Ariadne auf Naxos, Lucia di Lammermoor etc.). During the season 2003/04 he started his successful cooperation with Anna Netrebko (e.a. Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor and various gala concerts). He celebrated a sensational success in 2007 at Paris National Opera House jumping in by very short notice with Lohengrin (featuring W. Meier and B. Heppner). He collaborates with first-rate orchestras, choirs and soloists in the tradition of the „historically informed“ movement (Concerto Köln, Cappella Coloniensis), as well as, certainly, with „normal“ symphonic orchestras. During previous seasons he has made his debut among other with Israel Philharmonic (2008), Orchestre de Paris (2008), RAI Torino (2008), Radiosymphony Madrid (2008), Moscow Philharmonic (2008), Russian National Philharmonic (2008), Swedish Radiosymphony (2008), Washington National Opera (2009), Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf (2009), Hamburgische Staatsoper (2009), Concerto Köln (2010), Théatre des Champs-Elysées (2010), Teatro Real Madrid (2010), Teatro Nacional de São Carlos Lissabon (2010), New National Theatre Tokio (2010), Wiener Staatsoper (2010), Operà de Nice (2011), Oper Frankfurt (2011), Arena di Verona (2012), Vienna State Opera and the opera houses of Tokio (Aida), Ekaterinburg (Boris Godunov), and Moscow. Since August 2013, he is a Principal Conductor of Finnish National Opera Helsinki.