GÜNTHER HERBIG
Conductor
GÜNTHER
HERBIG
Günther
Herbig has established himself as a prominent conductor in the international
music world in particular building a strong career in America since 1979.
Because of the political situation in East Germany, Günther Herbig's first
opportunity in the West came quite late - he was invited to be the Principal
Guest Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 1979.
After being Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1984
for six years he was then the Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
for 5 years - a position he gave up in 1994 so as to enable him to work in
Europe more often. He
continues to live in Michigan.
Since
moving to the USA in 1984, he has appeared with all the great American
orchestras - the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony,
Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San
Francisco Symphony. He toured
America several times with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and received high
praise for the many performances they gave in New York's Carnegie Hall. In January 1989, he toured Europe with the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra with Gidon Kremer as soloist to critical acclaim.
In 1990, he toured the Far East with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and
in spring 1991 toured Europe with them, his
37th international Orchestra Tour. From
1990 to 1997 he was the visiting Professor of Conducting at Yale University,
with a one week master class each term.
In
West Europe, he started his career in Britain in 1979 when he was invited to
become Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. It was only in 1984, after he had left East Germany, that Günther
Herbig was able to have the opportunity to conduct regularly in Western Europe.
Very quickly he was invited by the other major British orchestras
including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then he has conducted most of the major European
Orchestras and has also toured Japan, South America and Australia many times.
In
2001 he became the Chief Conductor of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra
for 3 years in order to rebuild the Orchestra and bring it up to a higher level.
This was successful with several concerts being shown on French and
German TV, and he renewed the contract until 2006.
Unfortunately the subsidies to all the German Radio Orchestras were
substantially cut in 2005 and so Mr Herbig was unable to renew his contract
after 2006.
He
has recorded more than 100 works, some of which were with the East German
orchestras with whom he was associated prior to moving to the West in 1984.
Since then he has made recordings with several of the London orchestras,
the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Saarbrücken
RSO.
Günther
Herbig began his musical training with Hermann Abendroth at the Franz Liszt
Academy in Weimar. He continued his
studies with Hermann Scherchen, and was one of only a few students chosen for
intensive study with Herbert von Karajan, with whom he worked for two years.
In 1972 he became General Music Director of the Dresden Philharmonic
Orchestra, and from 1977 held the same position with the Berlin Symphony
Orchestra until 1984 when he resigned and moved to America.
He
is famed for his conducting of the 19th century Germanic repertoire
and in 2001 the Edinburgh International Festival decided to present a marathon
“Homage to Beethoven” concert inviting Mr Herbig to conduct this.
It was a duplicate of the programme that took place at the Theater an der
Wien in Vienna on 22 December 1808 when Beethoven presented (and conducted) the
Premiere of 5 new compositions including the Pastoral Symphony.
This three hour programme devised by Beethoven was Symphony No 6, Ah!
Perfido, Gloria from the C Major Mass, Piano Concerto No 4, Symphony No 5,
Sanctus from the C Major Mass and Choral Fantasia.
This programme was also shown on BBC Television.
For
further information on Günther Herbig please contact:
e-Mail:
artists@harrisonturner.co.uk OR
Website: www.harrisonturner.co.uk