Biography

Michael Güttler, born in Dresden, has become one of the best-known young orchestra leaders of today. His sensational covering for Valery Gergiev in performances of Wagner’s Ring and Parsifal at the Mariinskij in St. Petersburg, has helped him enter into the front row of young conductors.

He studied violin, trumpet, piano and choral conducting at the University for Music Carl Maria von Weber and also took master classes from Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Celibidache, Miltiades Caridis, Ilya Musin, and Valery Gergiev, after which he was accepted into the “Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrates.”

He was awarded several first prizes at the beginning of his international career, including the “Franco Capuana” in Spoleto, Italy (1996); the “Bottega” in Treviso, Italy (1994); at the International Conductor’s Forum in Hamm, Germany (1993); and “Conduct for Dance” in London, England (1993).

From 1998 – 2002, he was chief conductor at the State Theatre in Klagenfurt, Austria. He was the youngest person to hold that post.

Since 2002, he has been the guest conductor and assistant to Valery Gergiev at the Mariinskij Theatre in St. Petersburg, where he regularly conducts performances of The Ring, Parsifal, Tristan und Isolde, Falstaff, Don Carlos, Aida, La Traviata, and many more. Beginning with the 2006-07 season, he has taken on the general music directorship of the third Russian opera house in Ekaterinburg.

In addition to all this activity, Maestro Güttler finds time to guest conduct on the international scene as well – in his homeland of Germany and abroad: Staatskapelle and Semper Opera, as well as the Philharmonic in Dresden, the German opera in Berlin; “La Fenice” in Venice; Teatro San Carlos in Naples; Orchestra du Capitole de Toulouse, the Vienna Symphony, NDR in Hannover, music festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Calgary Philharmonic in Canada, etc.

In 2003-04, he began a very successful collaboration with renowned soprano Anna Netrebko in Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, and various gala concerts.

In 2006-07, he will make his conducting debut for the Opéra National de Paris at the Bastille, at the Minnesota Opera and the opera house in Göteborg, Sweden.

December 2006
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Excerpts from the Press

Michael Güttler - A German In St. Petersburg

(translated from Orpheus International, November 2006)

This conductor took over Wagner’s The Ring and Parsifal from Valery Gergiev on very short notice, which helped him to move into one of the front rows of the young conductor generation. Today, he is one of the very few “non-Russian” conductors working at the Mariinskij Theatre.

When Güttler was chief conductor in Klagenfurt (Austria) from 1998 – 2002, he had engaged a Russian pianist who was so enthusiastic about his work that he recommended him to Gergiev, who at that time was looking for someone to work on The Ring cycle in December 2002. He had a meeting with Gergiev in Vienna, who invited him to conduct in Russia in order to receive an artistic impression.

Gergiev subsequently entrusted him with studies of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. When Maestro Gergiev took sick, Güttler received a call five hours before the scheduled performance to “jump in” or the performance would have to be cancelled. This “jump” was a big success, which definitely was greatly supported with the excellent assistance of a stunning orchestra. The entire Russian and Finnish press came to hear the next night’s performance of Parsifal. At that point, he was made “permanent guest conductor” and went on to lead performances of Tristan, Lohengrin and Ariadne; as well as the Italian repertory of Aida, Don Carlos, Falstaff and various operas by Mozart.

Michael Güttler’s complete knowledge of four languages (Russian, Italian, German and English) has helped him a great deal with his various engagements. In 2006 he became the music director in Ekaterinburg, which is the third largest city in Russia. He just opened the season there with a performance of Eugene Onegin, which will be followed by Pique Dame, Chowantschtschina, and Boris Godunov.

He is also working a great deal with the wonderful Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. Their association began by coincidence with a performance of Don Giovanni in 2004.

He firmly believes it is important to hear and watch different conductors to collect experiences. He has learned a great deal from Valery Gergiev, but he also always looks for his own interpretation. Aside from working with Gergiev, Güttler was closely connected with Leonard Bernstein and Celibidache. He was immensely impressed by Bernstein’s musicality and his musical knowledge of all scores.

During his studies, he conducted a great deal in his native Germany and his concerts with the Dresden Staaatskappelle in 2002 and 2005 will be unforgettable experiences for him. After his studies, he has mostly worked abroad, which continues to be the case after all these years.

He loves Italy, where he has conducted more than 60 performances and led many concert tours. He often returns to Italy and will soon conduct Rossini’s Torvaldo e Dorliska along with German repertory such as Wagner in Catania, Beethoven in Bolzano and Richard Strauss in Florence.

In this profession exists a lot of difficulties. Güttler says he guest conducts many different orchestras of different levels, rehearsal times are usually very short; nevertheless, he tries to schedule rehearsals a long time in advance of the premiere.

He likes to conduct contemporary music, but he receives many engagements for the classical repertory. Ballet conducting has become rare in Güttler’s schedule, but he recently conducted 12 performances of Sacre du Printemps in Göthebörg, Sweden, which was a very exciting experience.

He soon will make his debut in Paris at the Opera Bastille, where he will conduct 23 performances, among them Berlioz’s Roméo and Juliet. After Mr. Gerard Mortier saw some of his rehearsals, he made him different offers, which he took as an expert confirmation of his work.

He is looking forward to conducting Rossini at Teatro San Carlo, to his conducting debut in Minnesota with performances of Lakmé, and more projects at the Mariinskij, which will include Parsifal again. Michael Güttler is looking forward to everything.

Translated from Orpheus International
November 2006