Viennese born
Sascha Goetzel has been Principal
Conductor of the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Finland, since June
2007. He holds this position alongside those of Music and Artistic
Director of the Austrian-Korean Philharmonic, a position he has
held since 2004, and Associate Conductor of the Attergau Music
Festival.
Having initially trained as a violinist,
Goetzel
began his career working at close quarters with many of the world’s
greatest conductors whilst in the ranks of the Vienna Philharmonic.
He received teaching, coaching and advice from some of the most
respected conductors and mentors: Zubin Mehta described him as
"highly talented, musically and technically" whilst
Riccardo Muti pronounced him "an enthusiastic, extraordinarily
talented musician". He spent time at the prestigious Tanglewood
Music Festival at the invitation of Seiji Ozawa, who described
him as "a young committed musician who strives for the highest
levels of musical excellence", and at the Sibelius Academy,
where he received tuition from the legendary Jorma Panula, who
says of him that "his unique personality and most professional
attitude make him a convincing but at the same time passionate
young conductor".
His Conducting Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Festival and
Rotary International Scholarship Award enabled him to extend the
experience that he had gathered in his native Austria, where he
had conducted the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Tonkünstler
Orchestra in Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus. He made
successful debuts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
the Berlin Symphony, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the NDR Hannover,
the NHK Symphony, the Shanghai Symphony, the Moscow Symphony,
Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Nagoya Philharmonic, the Deutsche
Kammerakademie and the Helsingborg Symphony in a wide spectrum
of repertoire, including several world premieres, and with the
Baltimore and Toronto symphonies conducting Viennese music. Alongside
his symphonic work, Sascha Goetzel has also substantially extended
his work in the field of opera, conducting performances at the
Vienna State Opera (
Pinocchio), the
Vienna Volksoper (
Bluebeard), as Associate
Conductor at the Los Angeles Opera (
Nicholas and Alexandra)
and at the Tiroler Stadttheater, where he led the recent acclaimed
new productions of the three Mozart Da Ponte operas. Soloists
with whom he has collaborated include Placido Domingo, José
Carreras, Anna Netrebko, José Cura, Thomas Hampson, Michael
Schade, Bo Skovhus, Akiko Suwanai, Rudolf Buchbinder, Vadim Repin
and Vesselina Kasarova.
Last season he made his debut with the Basel Symphony and the
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, and was immediately re-engaged.
He was also reinvited to Luxembourg, Cluj and Nagoya, and conducted
the Tonkünstler Orchestra and the Innsbruck Symphony. In
August he assisted Christoph Eschenbach at the Attergau Orchestra,
the training orchestra of the Vienna Philharmonic, and conducted
the orchestra himself in several concerts. The current season
began with a new production of
Nutcracker
at the Vienna State Opera, a concert on a highly popular Japanese
classical music television programme, and concerts with the Kyushu
Symphony. In January he conducted a new production of Lehár’s
Land of Smiles at the Vienna Volksoper,
receiving unprecedented critical acclaim, and was invited by Valery
Gergiev to conduct the Mariinsky Orchestra in Mozart’s
Don
Giovanni at the legendary Mariinsky Theatre in St
Petersburg, the beginning of what promises to be an exciting on-going
relationship.
Sascha Goetzel has made numerous television and
radio broadcasts and has recorded works by Nino Rota and Max Bruch
for Koch Classics. Besides his work as a conductor and violinist
he is a successful music arranger for various ensembles and artists,
such as José Carreras, Ramòn Vargas, the Ensemble
Wien and the NTO-Orchestra. Several of his arrangements have been
recorded and released by BMG and Deutsche Grammophon.
_______________________
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra selects Sascha
Goetzel as new Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
After a year long selection process with guest conductors
from four different countries, an international jury has awarded
the musical direction of Turkey's foremost symphony orchestra
to Austrian conductor Sascha Goetzel.
Goetzel takes over from Maestro Gürer Aykal,
the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra's music director since
the founding of the orchestra, and responsible for its artistic
development. One of Sascha Goetzel's principal duties will be
the preparation of concert tours and guest appearances of the
orchestra in the framework of major European music festivals in
the coming years. The orchestra will have a special role to play
in the 2010 Istanbul Festival when Istanbul holds the title of
European Capital of Culture.
Sascha Goetzel said
"I am honoured to have
been chosen to lead the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, and excited by the
bridge-building possibilities which present themselves through
music: not merely symbolically but as concretely as the magnificent
Bosphorus, Galata and Sultan Mehmet bridges which connect Asia
and Europe. It's a great challenge, but I have an inspired management
team and hard-working players in Istanbul, and in our first season
together we'll be performing some twenty concerts on the two continents
spanned by the bridges. We'll cover a great variety of repertoire
as we strive to create a special and unmistakable identity for
ourselves. Connecting Turkey artistically and culturally with
Europe and the wider world is just one of our missions - there
are many fascinating projects we're planning, ranging from new
perspectives on contemporary music to international touring."
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, the resident orchestra
of the International Istanbul Music Festival, is a model of cooperation
between cultures and between art and industry. The orchestra is
supported by the Turkish Borusan industrial group of companies,
which concentrates its wide-ranging activities in social and culture
sponsorship by encouraging interest in classical music.
Acknowledged today as Turkey's leading orchestra, the Borusan
Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (BIFO) was founded in 1993 as
the Borusan Chamber Orchestra. The chamber orchestra quickly grew
to become the symphony orchestra, which was established in 1999,
and Maestro Gürer Aykal became its first general music director
and chief conductor. For the past 15 years the orchestra has developed
a varied repertoire in collaboration with internationally renowned
musicians such as Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Gluzman, Dimitris Sgouros,
Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, Alexander Rudin, Suna Kan, Idil Biret,
Fazil Say, Ayşegül Sarica, Meral Güneyman, Ayla Erduran, Verda
Erman, Gülsin Onay, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, George Zamphir, Olga Kern,
Corey Cerovsek and Stanislav Ioudenitch. In the 2009 and 2010
seasons the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra will be heard
in several European centres of classical music.
_______________________
Unanimous acclaim for the music
of Franz Lehár's The Land of Smiles - new production at the
Vienna Volksoper February 2008
24.02.2008 | Peter Jarolin
But not only the stage set is convincing (this production
can stay for years in the repertoire). Also in orchestral matters
the Volksoper has achieved a quantum leap here. That is thanks
to the conductor, Sascha Goetzel, who rehearsed
extremely well, and brought the best out of the ambitious musicians.
Goetzel makes Léhar’s cosmos sound wonderful, emphasises
the Puccini-reminiscent operatic aspect of the score, and shows
how 'modern’ Lehár was in the twenties of the
last century. Rarely has Lehár sounded so exciting, rarely
has the orchestra also been that good. Congratulations!
Die Presse
24.02.2008 | Walter Weidringer
The best news from the Vienna Volksoper following the latest
première: the young Sascha Goetzel embraces
the richly coloured score with freshness, courage and also the
necessary pinch of naivity, and is able to convey it with intuitive
feeling for delicate sound colours at the podium of a Volksoper
Orchestra in brilliant form. Apart from a few brass-dominated
spots in which the balance slipped, one actually hears much more
than just a trace of the refinement which this genre so desperately
needs.
25. 02. 2008 l Markus Hennerfeind
Good news from the orchestra pit alongside a conventional
stage set and indifferent casting of the main roles: already the
potpourri overture from the house of Lehár promised a highly satisfying
premiÀre evening. Prepared in the finest details, precise, clearly
contoured, excellently phrased and with exactly the right amount
of splendid romantic colour, Sascha Goetzel shaped
a delight from the orchestra which one is not privileged to hear
every day on the WÎhringer G≠rtelÍ..One was able again to hear
how well the Volksoper Orchestra can play under an excellent conductor.
Applause!
24. 02. 2008 | Hedwig Kainberger
Time and again it is a pleasure to experience the colours
and nuances which the conductor Sascha Goetzel
draws
out of the orchestra. Engaged at the Volksoper since 2001/02,
he has conducted the three Da Ponte operas of Mozart at the State
Theatre of Tirol and since June 2007 is chief conductor of the
Kuopio Symphony in Finland.
Der Standard
24.02. 2008 l Ljubisa Tosic
The conductor Sascha Goetzel succeeds in
obtaining a depth of sound and contrast from the orchestra, which
indicate a drama far removed from the light and lively.