Cappella Coloniensis & Bruno Weil
Biography Cappella Coloniensis & Bruno Weil
Bruno Weil
Guest conducting many of the major international orchestras and numerous recordings spread Bruno Weil’s worldwide fame as one of the leading conductors of music of Viennese Classicism. Born in Germany, Bruno Weil was a master student of Hans Swarowsky and Franco Ferrara. A prize winner of several international competitions, he was named General Music Director of the City of Augsburg in 1981, being Germany’s youngest General Music Director at that time.. Bruno Weil resigned his post as General Music Director of the City of Duisburg, Germany in 2002 and is now principal guest conductor of the Tafelmusik Orchstra and music director of the Cappella Coloniensis.
In 1988 he enjoyed a stunning success when he replaced Herbert von Karajan at the Salzburg Festival, conducting Mozart's DON GIOVANNI with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Bruno Weil has performed with leading symphony orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, The Dresden Staatskapelle, theLos Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchstra.
Numerous recordings with the Tafelmusik Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra have been released under the Sony Classical and BMG Label. In 1997 Bruno Weil won the „Echo Klassik Award„ as „Conductor of the Year„. He has also earned enthusiastic acclaim for his Schubert recordings and for his recording of Mozart’s „Requiem“. His recent CD releases include the complete recording of the opera „Endimione„ by Johann Christian Bach, (Echo Klasssik Award 2000 – Best opera recording 17th/18th century) and Listz’s „Beethoven Cantata“ and the Choral Fantasy op.80 by Beethoven (Echo Klassik award). In 2010 he received the fifth Echo Klassik award for Haydn´s Symphonies Nr. 93, 95, 96). He recorded the opera “Der Freischütz” on period instruments and in 2004 made the first recording of a Wagner opera on original instruments “The Flying Dutchman”.
2005 he recorded Beethoven Symphonies 5 and 6 with Tafelmusik and recently Mozart Symphonies Nr. 40 and 41, and Beethoven´s Symphonies Nr. 7 and 8.
In addition, he has conducted at the German Opera Berlin, the Hamburg State Opera, the Semper Opera Dresden, and most often at the Vienna State Opera. In 1992 he made his debut with the Glyndebourne Festival in England.
Bruno Weil was Music Director of the Carmel Bach Festival, California from 1992 – 2010 and is Artistic Director of the period instrument festival "KLANG & RAUM" (Sound and space) in Irsee, Bavaria from 1993 – 2011.
In October 2001 Bruno Weil was appointed conducting Professor in Munich at the State Academy for Music and Theatre.
Cappella Coloniensis
Founded in 1954, the Cappella Coloniensis was the first orchestra in the world to utilize the research then being done into historical performance practice. After the initial work of the first years -in which it was necessary to find musicians interested in learning new ways of playing, collecting instruments appropriate for this work, and attracting an audience to the new sounds of old music - there followed in the 1960s and ‘70s concert tours around the world.
In the USSR, the Near and Far East, in Japan as well as Europe, and in North and South America, the Cappella was received with enthusiasm and hailed as an ambassador of German culture. Only a few conductors have served on the podium of the Cappella Coloniensis: among them Ferdinand Leitner, William Christie, John Eliot Gardiner, Joshua Rifkin, and since 1997, ever more often, Bruno Weil. With Weil, the Cappella has twice been awarded the Echo Classical Music Prize by the German recording industry.
Only a few conductors have served on the podium of the Cappella Coloniensis: among them Ferdinand Leitner, William Christie, John Eliot Gardiner, Joshua Rifkin, and since 1997, ever more often, Bruno Weil. With Weil, the Cappella has twice been awarded the Echo Classical Music Prize by the German recording industry. There have been highly praised CD recordings of Weber's operas, "Der Freischütz" and "Abu Hassan", as well as the opera, "Endimione", by Johann Christian Bach. International attention was drawn to the first performance of Richard Wagner's "Der fliegende Holländer" in the Paris version, presented in June of 2004 in the Philharmonie Hall in Essen, and to the premiere of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera fragments for "Demofoonte, presented in May 2007 in the Düsseldorf Tonhalle. On the occasion of Maria Callas's 30th birthday the Cappella Coloniensis was invited to the Athens festival in 2007 and played Cherubini's "Medea" in the ancient theatre of Epidauros in presence of over 12.000 enthusiastic spectators. Since the 2008/2009 season, and for the next five years the Cappella Coloniensis is Orchestra in Residence of the Essen Philharmonie. With performances of the London Sinfonies and the oratorios "The creation" and "The seasons" and their recordings on CD Joseph Haydn will be in the center of the first two Cappella Coloniensis seasons in Essen. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Joseph Haydn's death the Westdeutscher Rundfunk broadcasted the live recording of "The creation" on May, 31st 2009.
