A MUSICIAN
on the way
A MUSICIAN
on the way
One might easily believe that his solid physique and boundless energy come from his native Tyrol or that his career as a musician has almost been a foregone conclusion since he is Austrian and a neighbour of Mozart. However Oswald Sallaberger has long chosen a land without frontiers, that of the passion for making and sharing music, and that generosity is certainly the most striking about him. Maybe he took it early from his violin teachers at the Mozarteum of Salzburg, Sandor Vegh and Helmut Zehetmair, and Michael Gielen for conducting, or he has simply passed on the emotions he received working with his mentors, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado. Whatever the source is, Oswald Sallaberger lives music like a communion.
At the age of twenty he made his first international tour with the Austrian Chamber Orchestra, appearing notably at Carnegie Hall in New-York. Soon after, in 1993, he won the prize of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation awarded to young conductors.
He went on to conduct major orchestras at the Salzburg Festival, and opera productions at the Staatsoper Berlin (Lulu), in Vienna (Matthias Pintscher Thomas Chatterton), Linz (Fidelio), Lucerne and Munich (Così fan tutte), Basel (Pelléas et Mélisande). The list is not exhaustive but shows the open-mindedness of a conductor whose curiosity explores every path, from Classical and Romantique repertoire to contemporary music.
From 1998 to 2010 he was appointed music director of the Orchestra of the Opera Rouen Normandy. A decade enabled him to rebuild the orchestra by implementing an ambitious project whose influence went beyond his adopted region and took him to the major musical centres of France and Europe. He conducted several opera productions such as Stravinsky Le Rossignol, Purcell Dido and Aeneas, Puccini Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Wagner The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, all of Mozart’s major operas, among many others. Since July 2010, he has continued to conduct the orchestra as its chef fondateur (Founding Director), notably in a Beethoven cycle and new opera productions (Jenůfa, Fidelio…).
He is a resident conductor of the ASPEKTE Festival in Salzburg and the Tyrol Easter Festival and appears as a guest conductor at the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau. He was honoured to conduct the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt at the gala concert given at the awards ceremony for the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in Munich. Recently he premiered Goethe Songs by Fazil Say at the head of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and led the New York ICE.
Oswald Sallaberger gladly exchanges his conductor’s baton for the bow of his violin. He regularly plays chamber music and has been developing a project dear to his heart, La Maison Illuminée, by means of which he wishes to broaden the audience for classical music, particularly reaching out to young people. Based in Normandy, this flexible music ensemble whose unique programmes are inspired by the beauty of region was born from the conviction that access to musical emotion can improve the lives of each of us, whatever the context. This allows a humanist dimension to music making which is at the core of Oswald Sallaberger‘s vocation.
One might easily believe that his solid physique and boundless energy come from his native Tyrol or that his career as a musician has almost been a foregone conclusion since he is Austrian and a neighbour of Mozart. However Oswald Sallaberger has long chosen a land without frontiers, that of the passion for making and sharing music, and that generosity is certainly the most striking about him. Maybe he took it early from his violin teachers at the Mozarteum of Salzburg, Sandor Vegh and Helmut Zehetmair, and Michael Gielen for conducting, or he has simply passed on the emotions he received working with his mentors, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado. Whatever the source is, Oswald Sallaberger lives music like a communion.
At the age of twenty he made his first international tour with the Austrian Chamber Orchestra, appearing notably at Carnegie Hall in New-York. Soon after, in 1993, he won the prize of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation awarded to young conductors.
He went on to conduct major orchestras at the Salzburg Festival, and opera productions at the Staatsoper Berlin (Lulu), in Vienna (Matthias Pintscher Thomas Chatterton), Linz (Fidelio), Lucerne and Munich (Così fan tutte), Basel (Pelléas et Mélisande). The list is not exhaustive but shows the open-mindedness of a conductor whose curiosity explores every path, from Classical and Romantique repertoire to contemporary music.
From 1998 to 2010 he was appointed music director of the Orchestra of the Opera Rouen Normandy. A decade enabled him to rebuild the orchestra by implementing an ambitious project whose influence went beyond his adopted region and took him to the major musical centres of France and Europe. He conducted several opera productions such as Stravinsky Le Rossignol, Purcell Dido and Aeneas, Puccini Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Wagner The Flying Dutchman, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, all of Mozart’s major operas, among many others. Since July 2010, he has continued to conduct the orchestra as its chef fondateur (Founding Director), notably in a Beethoven cycle and new opera productions (Jenůfa, Fidelio…).
He is a resident conductor of the ASPEKTE Festival in Salzburg and the Tyrol Easter Festival and appears as a guest conductor at the Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau. He was honoured to conduct the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt at the gala concert given at the awards ceremony for the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in Munich. Recently he premiered Goethe Songs by Fazil Say at the head of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and led the New York ICE.
Oswald Sallaberger gladly exchanges his conductor’s baton for the bow of his violin. He regularly plays chamber music and has been developing a project dear to his heart, La Maison Illuminée, by means of which he wishes to broaden the audience for classical music, particularly reaching out to young people. Based in Normandy, this flexible music ensemble whose unique programmes are inspired by the beauty of region was born from the conviction that access to musical emotion can improve the lives of each of us, whatever the context. This allows a humanist dimension to music making which is at the core of Oswald Sallaberger‘s vocation.