|
The Austria conductor, Franz Leopold Maria Möst, known professionally as Franz Welser-Möst, studied under the composer Balduin Sulzer. As a youth in Linz, he studied the violin and had developed an interest in conducting. After suffering injuries in a car crash that led to nerve damage, he stopped his violin studies and shifted full-time to conducting studies. In 1985, Möst assumed the stage name Welser-Möst at the suggestion of his mentor, Baron Andreas von Bennigsen of Liechtenstein, in an homage to the city of Wels where he grew up. In 1986, he was adopted by Bennigsen. In 1992, Welser-Möst married Bennigsen's former wife, Angelika.
Franz Welser-Möst's first major debuts were at the Salzburg Festival in 1985, followed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1986 and the Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur in 1988. He served as Principal Conductor of the Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra, Sweden (1986-1991), and of Winterthur Symphony Orchestra, Switzerland (1987-1990) and in 1990 he became Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). His LPO tenure was controversial, with London critics giving him the nickname "Frankly Worse than Most". He concluded his London Philharmonic Orchestra tenure in 1996.
From 1995 to 2000, Franz Welser-Möst was Music Director with the Zürich Opera House, conducting more than forty new productions. He became general music director of the Zürich Opera in September 2005, with an original commitment to the Opera through 2011. However, he stood down from the Zürich post in July 2008, after having agreed to serve in the same capacity at the Wiener Staatsoper. He first conducted at the Wiener Staatsoper in 1987, as a substitute for Claudio Abbado in a production of Gioachino Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri. On June 6, 2007, the Austrian government announced the appointment of Welser-Möst as General Music Director of the Wiener Staatsoper, effective September 2010, alongside Dominique Meyer as director (Staatsoperndirektor). In September 2014, he announced his resignation from the Wiener Staatsoper, effective immediately. His partnership with the company included a wide-ranging repertoire, including a series of critically-praised new productions. He is an honorary member of the Wiener Singverein. He conducted the Vienna New Year's Concert in 2011, 2013 and is scheduled for 2023.
Franz Welser-Möst made his USA conducting debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1989. He guest-conducted the Cleveland Orchestra for the first time in February 1993. With the 2002-2003 season, He became the 7th Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra. His most recent contract extension is through the 2026-2027 season. During his tenure, he has led the orchestra's ongoing residency at the Musikverein in Vienna, which began with Welser-Möst's first European tour in 2003. In addition, under Welser-Möst, the Cleveland Orchestra initiated an annual residency at Miami's Carnival Center for the Performing Arts (later renamed the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts) in 2007.
Under Franz Welser-Möst, the orchestra began presenting regularly staged operas in 2009, reviving a practice by his predecessor Christoph von Dohnányi. These concert opera presentations have included a three-year cycle of the W.A. Mozart/Da Ponte operas, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte,[14] Richard Strauss' Salome (2011-2012), Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen (2013-2014 and 2017-2018), Strauss' Daphne (2014-2015) and Ariadne auf Naxos (2018-2019), Béla Bartók's The Miraculous Mandarin and Bluebeard's Castle in the 2015-2016 season (a collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet), and Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (2016-2017).
Franz Welser-Möst is among today’s most distinguished conductors. The 2021-2022 season marks his 20th year as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra, with the future of their acclaimed partnership extended to 2027, making him the longest-serving musical leader in the ensemble’s history. The New York Times has declared Cleveland under Welser-Möst’s direction to be “America’s most brilliant orchestra,” praising its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like musical cohesion.
With Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has been praised for its inventive programming, its ongoing support for new musical works, and for its innovative work in presenting semi-staged and staged operas. An imaginative approach to juxtaposing newer and older works has opened new dialogue and fresh insights for musicians and audiences alike. The Cleveland Orchestra has also been hugely successful in building up a new and, notably, a young audience. To date, the Cleveland Orchestra and Welser-Möst have been showcased around the world in nineteen international tours together. In 2020, they launched the ensemble’s own recording label and a brand-new digital streaming platform to continue and extend sharing their artistry globally; the 2020-2021 season is also inaugurating an original digital concert series titled In Focus, for viewing worldwide.
As a guest conductor, Franz Welser-Möst enjoys a particularly close and productive relationship with the Wiener Philharmoniker. He has twice appeared on the podium for their celebrated New Year’s Concert, and regularly conducts the orchestra in subscription concerts in Vienna, as well as on tours in Japan, China, Australia, and the USA. Highlights of recent and upcoming guest conducting appearances include performances of Strauss’s Die Aegyptische Helena at Teatro alla Scala and Elektra at the Wiener Staatsoper, and concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, where his work leading a series of opera performances has been widely acclaimed. These have included Rusalka, Der Rosenkavalier, L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio, Die Liebe der Danae, Aribert Reimann’s Lear, and Strauss’s Salome and Elektra. The success of both Salome and Rosenkavalier led the Festival to schedule encore performances in subsequent years.
During his tenure with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst had established an exclusive recording contract with EMI. His 1996 recording of Franz Schmidt's Symphony No. 4 received the Gramophone Award for Best Orchestral Recording. The CD's of Anton Bruckner's Mass No. 3 and Te Deum and works of Erich Wolfgang Korngold both received Grammy Award nominations for "Best Classical Album." EMI struck a similar deal with Welser-Möst to record performances at the Zürich Opera and has released a number of DVD's of his Zürich opera productions. In 2008, EMI reissued many of Welser-Möst's earlier recordings in an eight CD set. In October 2007, Deutsche Grammophon released the first commercial recording featuring Welser-Möst with the Cleveland Orchestra, L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. This recording was soon followed by a discof Richard Wagner Lieder performed by the orchestra and soloist Measha Brueggergosman. Several DVD's have been issued as well, including Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 and Symphony No. 8, at Severance Hall, and the Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 4 at the St. Florian Monastery and a multi-DVD set of major works by Johannes Brahms. In 2020, Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra released a three-disc recording featuring works from the past three centuries, "The Cleveland Orchestra: A New Century", the first recording on the orchestra's own in-house label. A number of his Salzburg opera productions, including Rosenkavalier, have been released internationally on DVD by Unitel.
During the 2020 Salzburg Festival, Franz Welser-Möst was awarded the festival ruby pin and the Salzburg Badge of Honor. In 2019, he was awarded the Gold Medal in the Arts by the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts in recognition of his long-lasting impact on the international arts community. Other honors include The Cleveland Orchestra’s Distinguished Service award (given as part of the ensemble’s 100th season celebrations for his focus on community and education), the Vienna Philharmonic’s “Ring of Honor” for his longstanding personal and artistic relationship with the ensemble, recognition from the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, honorary membership in the Wiener Singverein, appointment as an Academician of the European Academy of Yuste, and the Kilenyi Medal from the Bruckner Society of America.
Franz Welser-Möst published his autobiography, Als ich die Stille fand: Ein Plädoyer gegen den Lärm der Welt, in 2020; it was published in English in May 2021 under the title From Silence: Finding Calm in a Dissonant World. |
