Omer Meir Wellber is to be new Music Director at Volksoper Wien from September 2022

As of the start of Lotte de Beer’s period as Director, Omer Meir Wellber is to be Music Director at Volksoper Wien from 1 September 2022. In addition to directing new productions and repertoire performances, for five seasons he will be chiefly responsible for the musical life of the Volksoper and for the development of the ensemble, the orchestra and the chorus. From as early as spring 2021 he will be involved in the preparations for the new directorship.

Lotte de Beer: “I couldn’t be happier about the appointment of Omer Meir Wellber as Music Director of Volksoper Wien from the 2022/23 season,” said the Director designate of the Volksoper, Lotte de Beer. “He is one of the most exciting conductors of our time. His brilliant musicality paired with his forward thinking and bubbling creativity, make him the ideal partner to take Volksoper Wien into a new era.”

Omer Meir Wellber: “I am very much looking forward to collaborating with the director Lotte de Beer. Not only because of her boundless enthusiasm for the new in art, I feel a great bond with her. The fascinating history of Volksoper Wien is both inspiring and challenging for me. The company was formed over 120 years ago as a theatre by a number of committed Viennese citizens. Under the young Alexander von Zemlinsky as Music Director, in 1908 it made the transition to an opera house, with the first Viennese performances of “Salome” and “Tosca” taking place there. Since then it has been known as the Volksoper. At this point I would like to add that great music will define our performance schedule. And it will be accessible to all citizens of Vienna – as the name indicates, this is an opera house for the people, providing outstanding quality. We are determined to make the Volksoper one of the most exciting music theatres in Europe.”

Omer Meir Wellber is a leading conductor of opera and symphonic music. He is Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, Music Director of the Teatro Massimo Palermo, Chief Guest Conductor of the Semperoper Dresden and Music Director of the Raanana Symphonette. From 2010 to 2014 he was Music Director at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia.

In addition to these positions as music director, Omer Meir Wellber has appeared as guest conductor at major international opera houses and festivals, including the Metropolitan Opera New York, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Berliner Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Glyndebourne Festival, and Arena di Verona.

The Wiener Festwochen festival commissioned Omer Meir Wellber to direct a three-year project around Verdi’s “trilogia popolare”, for which he conducted “Rigoletto” (2011), “La traviata” (2012) and “Il trovatore” (2013) at the Theater an der Wien. He regularly conducts numerous renowned ensembles all over the world, for example the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra.

In spite of his commitments all over the world, Omer Meir Wellber maintains a close connection with ensembles in his home country of Israel, for example Israeli Opera and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Social commitment, communicating music and musical education are very important to him. As conductor of the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, he reaches over 70,000 children a year with his artistic commitment. He is an ambassador for the Israeli non-profit organisation Save a Child’s Heart, which supports treatment for children from developing countries who are suffering from heart disease. He also works regularly with various institutions in outreach programmes, and he promotes the next generation of conductors by means of workshops, courses and visits to schools.

In autumn 2019 Omer Meir Wellber’s first novel, “Die vier Ohnmachten des Chaim Birkner”, was published by BerlinVerlag. In spring 2017 “Die Angst, das Risiko und die Liebe – Momente mit Mozart” [Fear, risk and love – moments with Mozart] appeared, in which together with the publicist Inge Kloepfer he describes his personal approach to the universal emotions in the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas “Così fan tutte”, “Le nozze di Figaro” and “Don Giovanni”.