Wolfgang Seeliger

Wolfgang Seeliger (* May 30, 1946 in Heidelberg) is a German conductor and choir.

Life and work

Seeliger received his musical education at the Salzburg Mozarteum and at the University of Salzburg with Hans Swarowski, the mentor of the modern orchestra education. His other teachers included in Salzburg Gerhard Wimberger, Helmut Eder and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the lasting influence it with his conception of music as a language.

Wolfgang Seeliger completed his education at the conductor Kirill Kondrashin, Franco Ferrara and Herbert von Karajan, with the bandaged him close personal contacts. In 1983, he was assistant to Sir Colin Davis, from 1984 with Leonard Bernstein. From 1984 until his death in 1990 occurred in all concerts and recordings by Bernstein in Germany for close cooperation between the conductors.

Since then he has worked as a conductor and choir director at several opera houses and broadcasters. In 1982 he was appointed professor at the Musikhochschule Heidelberg -Mannheim, where he took a teaching position for orchestral conducting. In addition, he continues to act as a lecturer at various choral, orchestral and conducting courses.

Already during his school and university Wolfgang Seeliger was integrated into the Austrian jazz scene and has worked with Friedrich Gulda together. Even during intense collaboration with Bernstein that music has on his mind and influences. He also follows its motto: "There is only good and bad music, but no difference between U- and E - music."

In 1977 he founded the Darmstadt Concert Choir, of which he is to this day. From 1994 to 2000, Wolfgang Seeliger artistic director of the initiative, launched by him " Summer Games Kranichstein hunting lodge ". In 2001 he founded the Darmstadt Residenzfestspiele. About the numerous concert engagements as a conductor of his Darmstadt ensembles addition, Wolfgang Seeliger working as a guest conductor with various orchestras and choirs, such as with the Munich Philharmonic, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the state opera S. Carlos Lisbon, the Radio Orchestra Hilversum and the radio choirs in Hilversum, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne and Hamburg. Since April 2007 he is also the artistic director of the Academic Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg.

Wolfgang Seeliger opened up his ensembles a stylistically comprehensive repertoire that equally includes lesser known and unusual music as the standard works of the choral and orchestral literature from the ancient to contemporary music. He has also conducted numerous premieres of works by contemporary composers, or those rehearsed; in addition, his interest is also nearly forgotten composers of the Darmstadt music history, such as Christoph Graupner and Carl Amand Mangold.

Appreciation

In June 2006, Seeliger was by the Hessian Ministry for Science and Art for his life's work, with which he has contributed in a special way to the cultural development of the state of Hesse, and for his services as a "cultural ambassador for Darmstadt in the world, for Hesse and for Germany " awarded the Goethe Medal of the state of Hesse.