After an intensive two-year international search, the Milwaukee Symphony
Board, musicians and staff have announced that Andreas Delfs will become
the fifth Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Born in Germany,
the 36-year-old Juilliard-trained conductor currently heads the Hannover
State Opera and Orchestra and formerly held the post of Resident Conductor
of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Mr. Delfs and his family were introduced at
a news conference held on Wednesday, June 5, 1996 at the Marcus Center for
the Performing Arts.
"It gives us great pleasure to announce the start of a new era for
the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra -- the era of Andreas Delfs," stated
President Allen N. Rieselbach. "Mr. Delfs is one of today's most dynamic
young artists. He is warm, open, down-to-earth, and a master at building
bridges between an orchestra and its community."
Executive Director Steven A. Ovitsky called Andreas Delfs "a skilled
conductor with strong leadership abilities. Andreas has great strength and
depth in the standard repertoire, and is much admired for innovative programming,
educational programs and outreach to new audiences."
Board member Michael J. Schmitz, Chair of the Music Director Search Committee,
cited the following as criteria used in the selection of Mr. Delfs:
· A master conductor, with the ability to lead the orchestra to higher
levels of artistic virtuosity
· A musician of wide repertoire and visionary, creative programming
· A skilled communicator with the ability to relate to audiences of
all ages
· A community-oriented person, ready to make a strong commitment to
the people of Milwaukee
"Andreas Delfs scores a 10 on all counts," said Mr. Schmitz. "We
are confident that he is the ideal person to lead our fine orchestra into
the next century. The best part of his career lies ahead of him, and we
believe the best years of the MSO also lie ahead -- with Andreas Delfs on
the podium."
Principal Double Bassist Roger Ruggeri, who served on the Music Director
Search Committee, stated: "The musicians of the Search Committee are
absolutely delighted with the selection of Andreas Delfs as the new Music
Director of the Milwaukee Symphony. A musician of tremendous ability, Delfs
established a remarkable working rapport with the orchestra in recent concerts.
We are convinced that he possesses the knowledge, energy and enthusiasm
to help lead our organization to new levels of achievement."
Andreas Delfs said: "I love the MSO. I've conducted the orchestra in
two different programs, and I had a good feeling right from the start. The
orchestra has had very good conductors in the past who have built up an
extremely solid framework of musicianship. The timing is right for me and
this orchestra to get together. It's no coincidence we were both born in
1959!"
Under his three-year contract with the MSO -- which begins with the 1997/98
season -- Mr. Delfs will conduct 10 out of 18 subscription weeks annually.
Additional time in Milwaukee will be used for special concerts, festivals,
PR, fund raising, outreach, season planning and other administrative duties.
He and his family will have a residence in Milwaukee and will live in the
community for significant portions of the year, dividing their time between
Milwaukee and Hannover. Although his tenure is scheduled to begin in September,
1997, plans are underway for Mr. Delfs to make several appearances in Milwaukee
next season.
Unlike any of the MSO's previous Music Directors, Delfs maintains successful
and active careers in both Europe and the United States, in both opera and
orchestral repertoire. As General Music Director of the Hannover State Opera
and Orchestra, Delfs presides over a staff of seven conductors, mounting
eight new productions for a total of about 240 performances annually. In
addition, the orchestra presents a full series of subscription programs.
Delfs won great admiration for his casual and educational concerts during
his tenure as Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony (1986-1990).
He spearheaded the development of an entire "stepladder" of education
programs encompassing all ages. Interaction with the public was an important
part of his duties, including offering pre-concert talks and hosting post-concert
receptions for the audiences. As Lorin Maazel notes, Delfs is "extremely
verbal. He has a remarkable way of working with young people."
His four years in Pittsburgh, during which he immersed himself in the community
life and culture of this American institution, were important in shaping
Delfs' beliefs about the role of the modern conductor. "It's not enough
any more for us to exist in an ivory tower," he said. "A music
director today has to be a spokesperson for the arts. He or she must represent
the orchestra in the community, spending a lot of time making connections
and building bridges."
Mr. Delfs served as Music Director of the celebrated Orchestre Suisse des
Jeunes from 1986 through the 1994-95 season. That ensemble's first compact
disc, recorded in 1991 under Mr. Delfs, received international acclaim.
He has also recorded a successful disc of music by Jewish composer Erwin
Schulhoff for London-Decca's "Degenerate Music" series.
Recent conducting engagements have included the Houston Symphony, Minnesota
Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra,
the Bournemouth Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the
Maastricht Symphony, the Limburg Symphony, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. In Europe, in addition to his duties
in Bern, Mr. Delfs has led a tour of Spain and France with the Schleswig-Holstein
Festival Orchestra and soloist Mstislav Rostropovich, who immediately invited
Mr. Delfs to conduct the Moscow Conservatory Orchestra at the inauguration
of the new concert hall at the Evian Festival in France. Mr. Delfs has also
made a celebrated debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland,
conducted the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Cologne on a national telecast,
and appeared in a highly praised concert with the RIAS Youth Orchestra and
Mischa Maisky in Berlin.
He has conducted major orchestras throughout the world, including the Berlin
Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, the Beethovenhalle
Orchestra of Bonn, and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. As assistant to Lorin
Maazel, he directed the Orchestre National of France and the World Philharmonic
Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro.
Among Mr. Delfs' most notable operatic achievements have been productions
of "Die Zauberflote," "Rigoletto" and "La Boheme"
at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm and "Cavalleria Rusticana,"
"I Pagliacci," "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and the
uncut version of Henze's monumental "Konig Hirsch" for the Wurttemberg
State Theatre in Stuttgart. He has also conducted Mozart's "Marriage
of Figaro" and Puccini's "Il Trittico" at the Aspen Music
Festival and the Swiss premiere of Gyorgy Ligeti's "Le Grande Macabre"
in Bern, which received special praise from the composer.
In Italy, the conductor has won critical acclaim for his work in Venice,
at the Teatro la Fenice, where he was assistant to Luciano Berio, as well
as in Modena, Ferrara and Parma, directing the Arturo Toscanini Orchestra
of Emilia-Romagna. Delfs has also performed at the Edinburgh and Aberdeen
Festivals in Scotland, the Aterforum Festival in Italy, the Great Woods
Festival with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Chicago's Grant Park Festival, the
Aspen Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and the festivals
of Lucerne and Evian.
Born in Flensburg, Germany, Andreas Delfs began studies of piano and music
theory at age S and was added to the roster of the Flensburg Stadttheater
as conductor and composer at 17. He studied with Christoph von Dohnanyi
and Aldo Ceccato at the Hamburg Conservatory and served as a staff conductor
at the Luneburg Stadttheater.
At 20, he became the Music Director of the Hamburg University Orchestra,
the youngest person ever to hold this post, and Musical Assistant at the
Hamburg State Opera. Guest conductor at the Bremen State Theatre in 1981,
Mr. Delfs graduated from Hamburg Conservatory that same year. Enrolling
at The Juilliard School upon the recommendation of von Dohnanyi, he studied
with Jorge Mester and Sixten Ehrling and won the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship
on the way to receiving his Master's degree in 1984. Following graduation,
he received a Steinberg Fellowship appointment with the Pittsburgh Symphony,
and served for two seasons as director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony.
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