Welser-Möst

Welser-Möst (real name, Most), Franz, prominent Austrian conductor; b. Linz, Aug. 16, 1960. He began his training in Linz with Balduin Sulzer. He studied at the Munich Hochschule für Musik. After becoming a finalist in the Karajan conducting competition in 1979, he served as principal conductor of the Austrian Youth Orch. In 1985 he was named music director of the Winterthur and Norrköping sym. orchs. He made a successful British debut as a guest conductor with the London Phil. in 1986, and subsequently led it on a tour of Europe. In 1987 he made his debut as an opera conductor in Vienna with L’Italiana in Algeri. In 1989 he made his U.S. debut as a guest conductor with the St. Louis Sym. Orch. From 1990 to 1996 he was principal conductor of the London Phil. In 1992 he made his first appearance with the Zürich Opera conducting Der Rosenkavalier. He became its music director in 1995, where he programmed a complete Ring cycle for the 2000-01 season. In 1998 he made his debut with the Vienna Phil. at the Mozart Festival Week in Salzburg. In 1999 he was appointed music director of the Cleveland Orch., which position he was to assume in 2002. As a guest conductor, he has been engaged by many major European and American orchs. In addition to the classics, Welser-Möst has programmed many 20^th century scores, including those of Stravinsky, Bartók, Schmidt, Korngold, Orff, Kodály, Part, Kancheli, and H.K. Gruber.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire