STERT Johannes

Bio

"Succeeding years as Principal Conductor at the Cologne Opera, and Principal Guest Conductor for the Graz Opera, Johannes Stert rapidly has become a sought-after guest at important opera houses around the world. In 2008, he debuted at the Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, in Lisbon, Portugal, with Mozart´s La Clemenza di Tito, and has become a favorite guest there, with Don Giovanni scheduled for 2009, and La Dona Branca in 2011. Recently, he led a new production of The Magic Flute at the Korean National Opera, in Seoul. In December of 2009, he will make another debut, at the Royal Danish Opera, Copenhagen, Denmark. Also during the 2009-2012 seasons, Stert debuts at the Theater Magdeburg, Germany and Staatstheater Oldenburg, Germany. Stert has been a guest at various festivals, such as the Wiener Festwochen, the Triennale Köln, the Festival in Montepulciano, the Festival Dei due Mondi"" in Spoleto, the Dresdner Festival for Contemporary Music, the Festival in Hitzacker, the ""Schreyaner Autumn"" and the Hamburg State Opera. Numerous contemporary music concerts and projects have resulted in close collaborations with important composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Manfred Trojahn, Johannes Fritsch, Volker Staub, Detlev Glanert, Maurizio Kagel and Hans Werner Henze. Renowned new music ensembles, like the Ensemble Recherche and the Ensemble Köln, constantly invite him to conduct. Johannes Stert has been a frequent guest conductor of the WDR Radio Orchestra, Cologne, since 2004. As well as concerts, he has conducted CD recording sessions of the rare opera ""Merlin"" by Karl Goldmark, as well as the recording premieres of the two Piano Concerti of Friedrich von Flotow. His conducting career began in 1993 as Second Conductor for two seasons at the Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern. There he started a fruitful collaboration with Günter Krämer when the company made a tour to Japan with Weill´s Threepenny Opera. Krämer later engaged him at the Cologne Opera. Johannes Stert was for ten years (1995-2005) closely associated with the Cologne Opera as a conductor, and created an important part of every season (premieres, concerts, repertoire). In 2001, he was elevated to the position of First Conductor. In 2001, Philippe Jordan and Karin Stone invited Maestro Stert to conduct at the Graz Opera, where he was engaged as Principal Guest Conductor after two highly successful productions there. Highlights of his five seasons (through 2006) in Graz include his concerts with the Graz Philharmonic, as well as productions of Wagner´s Parsifal, Mozart´s La finta Giardiniera, Ligeti´s Le Grand Macabre and Henze´s Boulevard Solitude. Since 1990, Stert has been Music Director of the Orchesterverein Hilgen. Under his leadership, this orchestra has grown into one of the leading symphonic wind ensembles of Europe. Over the years, he has created many wind arrangements and orchestrations for them. The German government´s Music Endowment presented them with a First Prize in 1996, 2000 and 2004. In May, 2008, the orchestra won the First Prize of the international ""Eolla"" competition in Strasbourg, France. In May, 2013, the Orchesterverein Hilgen won the second price of the european competition of UGDA for concert bands in Luxembourg. Johannes Stert was born in 1963, in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He began his musical education with lessons in piano, violin and trombone. In 1980, he won the First Prize of the German Government´s program, ""The Young Make Music."" As a result, he earned a scholaship to the International Music Camp in Interlochen/USA. He was commended for ""Excellence"" for his conductor´s examination at the Cologne Conservatory Johannes Stert lives in Cologne with his wife Beate, and two children, Paulina and Elias."""