Staatsoper Hamburg - Stück-Besetzung: Robert Schumann

Musikalische Leitung

Omer Meir Wellber

Musical Direction

Omer Meir Wellber

Omer Meir Wellber has established himself as one of our generation’s leading conductors of operatic and orchestral repertoire alike. He is Music Director of the Teatro Massimo Palermo and from a long association, he is also Music Director of the Raanana Symphonette in Israel. He begins his tenure of General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera as well as Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg in the season 2025/2026. Omer Meir Wellber regularly conducts the Gewandhausorchester zu Leipzig, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, among others.

For the Teatro Massimo’s new season in Palermo, Omer Meir Wellber presented Bellini’s opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi in a production by Idan Cohen and he conducted Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde directed by Daniele Menghini. Highlights of recent seasons include new productions of Kaiserrequiem – his own creation with director Marco Gandini, which brings together Viktor Ullman's Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Mozart's Requiem –, Verdi's Les Vêpres siciliennes in a production by Emma Dante and Wagner's Parsifal in a production by Graham Vick. His innovative work at Teatro Massimo, including the January 2021 production Crepuscolo dei sogni, earned him the 2021 Special Award from Italy's Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali (National Association of Music Critics).

During his time as Music Director of the Volksoper Vienna, which ended in December 2023 at his own request, Omer Meir Wellber conducted Tchaikovsky's Jolanthe and The Nutcracker, a new creation directed by Lotte de Beer and numerous revivals, such as La Traviata, Mozart's Zauberflöte and Richard Strauss' Salome (in a recreation of Luc Bondy's timeless 1992 production). Under the direction of Omer Meir Wellber, the Volksopernorchester has also made guest appearances at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt and increased its presence in Vienna at the Wiener Konzerthaus with a performance of Verdi's Messa da Requiem, among others. He will continue his relationship with the Volksoper Vienna in 2024/25 where he will conduct his two initially planned new productions: Ella Milch-Sheriff's commissioned composition, her new opera “Alma”, and his creation of the Kaiserrequiem with the Vienna State Ballet, directed and choreographed by Andreas Heise.

Guest performances in the 2023/24 season will see Omer Meir Wellber travel to Bremen with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, to Rome with the Rome Symphony Orchestra, to Leipzig with the Gewandhausorchester, to Prague with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, to Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan) with the Wiener Symphoniker, to Paris with the Orchestre National de France and to Hamburg with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.

As Omer Meir Wellber was Music Director of the 2023 Toscanini Festival in Parma, Wellber presented a mixture of symphonic and chamber music concerts and took the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini to the Dresdner Musikfestspiele. During the first edition of the festival held in 2022, Wellber conducted a concert version of Puccini's rarely performed opera Les Willis.

Named portrait artist of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2022, Omer Meir Wellber appeared on the conductor’s podium and also played accordion, harpsichord and grand piano. Wellber presented 14 varied and unique concerts under the motto “Friendship”. In addition to classical orchestral concerts with the Festival Orchestra of the SHMF and the BBC Philharmonic, the program included chamber music and chanson evenings as well as a four-hand piano recital. True to the theme of “Friendship”, Omer Meir Wellber performed together with mandolinist Jacob Reuven, pianists Fazil Say and Daniel Ciobanu, violinist Veronica Eberle and clarinettist Alessio Vicario, among others.

The most recent CD recordings with Omer Meir Wellber were released in May 2022: The Mandolin Seasons with Jacob Reuven and the Sinfonietta Leipzig (musicians of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra) on the Hyperion label and Pop Songs with cellist Jan Vogler and the BBC Philharmonic on the Sony label. Previous releases include the first joint recording by Wellber and the BBC Philharmonic of works by Ben-Haim (Chandos), Tavener's No longer mourn for me with Steven Isserlis and the Philarmonia Orchestra (Hyperion), and DVD releases of Wagner's Parsifal (Unitel/C Major), Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Naxos), Puccuni's Madama Butterfly (Opus Arte), Boito's Mefistofele (Unitel), Verdi's Aida (Bel Air Classique), and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin (Unitel).

Omer Meir Wellber made his literary debut with his first novel "Die vier Ohnmachten des Chaim Birkner", published by Berlin Verlag in autumn 2019. Originally written in Hebrew, the novel was published in Wellber’s native tongue by Keren (“ארבע פעמים התעלף חיים בירקנר”) in July 2023. Its critical acclaim has also seen the book’s publication in Italian by Sellerio Editore (2021), and in French by Éditions du sous-sol (2022). The novel tells the story of Chaim Birkner, a tired and broken man who is forced by his daughter to face life one last time.

"Die Angst, das Risiko und die Liebe - Momente mit Mozart" – the conductor’s first book – was published in spring 2017. Co-written with German author and journalist Inge Kloepfer, the book shares his personal understanding of the universal emotions addressed in the three Mozart/Da Ponte operas - Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, establishing him as a great voice of classical music.

Omer Meir Wellber has made several debuts in recent years: In 2023 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others. In August 2021, Wellber made his debut at the Bregenz Festival with works by Ives and Bruckner and Strauss's Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra with Ramón Ortega Quero (oboe) and the Wiener Symphoniker. He made his debut with the Munich Philharmonic in November 2019 with the world premiere of Ayal Adler, with the BBC Philharmonic with works by Mozart, Haydn, and Ben-Haim at the BBC Proms in July 2019, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York with performances of Bizet's Carmen in October 2018. In summer 2018, he conducted the festival premiere of Puccini's Madama Butterfly (BlueRay Opus Arte, 2019) at the Glyndebourne Festival, where he debuted in 2014 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra's production of Eugene Onegin. In March 2017, he conducted the premiere of Giordano's Andrea Chenier at the Bavarian State Opera, where he had already conducted the new production of Mefistofele in 2015 (DVD Unitel, 2016). In November 2016, he conducted the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in the world premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina's oratorio On Love and Hate.

Omer Meir Wellber's longstanding collaboration with the Semperoper Dresden culminated in his position as Principal Guest Conductor from 2018 to 2022, alongside his receipt of the Rudi Häussler Priz for contributions to the development of the opera house. As early as 2010 he conducted new productions and revivals of Aida, Ariadne auf Naxos, Daphne, the Da Ponte Trilogy, The Magic Flute, Grand Macabre, Guntram, Madama Butterfly, Nabucco, Rosenkavalier, Salome, and Tannhäuser. Symphony concerts with the Sächsische Staatskapelle were also part of the program.

During his time as Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, Omer Meir Wellber achieved highlights such as concerts at the BBC Proms, Bridgewater Hall, and guest concerts at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Wellber also hosted a conversation video series with the BBC named The Music Room: the first series focused on Beethoven’s 9 symphonies in 2020, before turning to Ben-Haim for a second installment (The Music Room: Discovering Ben-Haim).

Omer Meir Wellber served as the Music Director at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia from 2010 to 2014, leading both orchestral and operatic performances – one of the most remarkable, Eugene Onegin, was published on DVD by C Major. He conducted Verdi’s operatic masterpiece trifecta – Rigoletto (2011), La Traviata (2012) and Il Trovatore (2013) at the Vienna Festival.

From 2008 to 2010, Omer Meir Wellber assisted Daniel Barenboim at the Berliner Staatsoper Unter den Linden and at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, directing the Scala in a critically hailed performance of Verdi’s Aida at the Israeli Opera. In 2010, he also stepped in for Seiji Ozawa, conducting Strauss’ Salome at the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto.

Omer Meir Wellber’s close ties to his native Israel are evident in his collaboration with the Raanana Symphonette Orchestra, of which he has been Music Director since 2009. The orchestra dedicates itself to developing traditions of Jewish music, promoting contemporary Israeli music, and curating music education projects which reach more than 70,000 children each year. For over a decade he was regular guest conductor at the Israeli Opera where he conducted performances of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, Puccini’s Turandot and Madama Butterfly, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Gounod’s Faust and Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, among others. In 2007 he debuted with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2016 led the orchestra in its residency at the Dresden Music Festival.

The conductor is a Good Will Ambassador for Save a Child’s Heart, an Israeli-based non-profit organization that provides critical cardiac medical healthcare. In addition, Omer Meir Wellber collaborates with various institutions through outreach programs and fosters the next generation of conducting students through educational lectures.

Born in Be’er Sheva in 1981, Omer Meir Wellber began studying the accordion and piano when he was five years old. He took composition lessons with Tania Taler from the age of nine before continuing under Michael Wolpe until 2004. After graduating from the Be’er Sheva Conservatory in 1999, he received a music scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation which he used to study Conducting and Composition at the Jerusalem Music Academy from 2000-2008 with Eugene Zirlin and Mendi Rodan.

Omer Meir Wellber plays a custom-built accordion, model POLARIS, from the renowned Italian accordion manufacturer PIGINI.

Omer Meir Wellber is dressed by Giorgio Armani and Bulgari.

Find further information about Omer Meir Wellber here.

Performances

photo: (c) Hilde van Mas

Chorleitung

Alice Meregaglia

Peri

Vera-Lotte Boecker

Soprano

Vera-Lotte Boecker

Ab der Spielzeit 2017/18 wird Vera-Lotte Böcker Ensemblemitglied der Komischen Oper Berlin sein und dort u.a. Pamina, Micaela, Rosina, Donna Anna und Hermia in Offenbachs „Barbe-Bleue“ in einer Neuinszenierung von Stefan Herheim singen.

Von 2014 bis 2016 war Vera-Lotte Böcker am Nationaltheater Mannheim engagiert,
wo sie unter anderem als Pamina, Musetta, Gretel, Adele, Rosina,
Ismene (Mitridate), Autonoe (Die Bassariden), Eudoxie (La Juive), Jenny (Mahagonny), aber auch Eliza Doolittle und in der weiblichen Hauptpartie in Lucia Rochettis 2015 als Uraufführung des Jahres ausgezeichneter Oper „Esame di Mezzanotte“ zu erleben war.

Die Spielzeit 16/17 begann darüber hinaus mit der Rückkehr an die Bayerische Staatsoper als Princesse Eudoxie in Halevys „La Juive“ nach ihrem sensationellen Hausdebüt in dieser Rolle im Rahmen der Festspiele in Calixto Bieitos Neuinszenierung unter der musikalischen Leitung von Bertrand de Billy. Es folgte die Hauptpartie der Agnès in der Premiere von George Benjamins erfolgreicher Oper „Written on Skin” am Teatro Stabile di Bolzano.
Im April 2017 war Vera-Lotte Böcker zuletzt auch als Agnès am renommierten Moskauer Bolschoj-Theater in einer Co-Produktion mit dem Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in Katie Mitchells Inszenierung der Uraufführung zu erleben.

Vera-Lotte Böcker wurde in Brühl bei Köln geboren. Nach einem Studium der Philosophie und Literatur an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin studierte sie Gesang an der Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler sowie an der Universität der Künste in Berlin, wo sie 2013 ihr Studium mit Auszeichnung abschloss. Sie ergänzte ihre Ausbildung im Opernstudio des Royal Danish Theatre in Kopenhagen.
Die junge Sopranistin ist Preisträgerin des Gesangswettbewerbes Vokal Genial der
Konzertgesellschaft München und des Bayerischen Rundfunks (2015, 1. Preis, Publikumspreis und Orchesterpreis), Stipendiatin des Deutschen Musikwettbewerbs und des Richard-Wagner-Verbandes Mannheim. 2014 wurde sie für ihre Interpretation der Agnès in George Benjamins Oper „Written on Skin” als Nachwuchssängerin nominiert und erhielt den Theaterpreis der Stadt Detmold. Ihr erstes Engagement führte sie noch während ihres Studiums ans Landestheater Detmold, wo sie u.a. als Adina, Micaëla, Gretel und Agnès debütierte.

Vera-Lotte Böcker sang bisher mit Dirigenten wie Dan Ettinger, Bertrand de Billy,Ruben Dubrovsky, Rossen Gergov, Alexander Soddy, Frank Ollu und Erich Wächter. Zu den Regisseuren, mit denen sie bereits zusammenarbeiten durfte, zählen u.a. Calixto Bieito, Frank Hilbrich, Nicola Raab, Achim Freyer und Peter Konwitschny.

Performances

Das Paradies und die Peri

photo: Rosa Frank

Sopran / Jungfrau

Eliza Boom

Mezzosopran

Kady Evanyshyn

Mezzo-Soprano

Kady Evanyshyn

Birthplace:
Winnipeg, Canada

Studies:
Bachelor and Master of Music, The Juilliard School

Awards/Competitions:
First Prize of the New Orleans District and Second Prize of the Gulf Coast Region at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (2023), Award from the Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition (2017/18), Winner of the John Erskine Prize at The Juilliard School (2017) and the Tudor Bowl at the Winnipeg Music Festival (2015)

Masterclasses:
Lioba Braun, Brigitte Fassbänder, Elena Garanča, Thomas Hampson, Malcom Martineau, Anne Sofie von Otter, Bo Skovhus, Emmanuel Villaume, and others

Relation to the Hamburg State Opera:
Ensemble member of the Hamburg State Opera since the 2022/2023 season
Was member of the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera from 2019/20 to 2022/23

Important parts:
Annio (La clemenza di Tito), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Charlotte (Werther), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Siébel (Faust), Zweite Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Mercédès (Carmen), Meg Page (Falstaff), Tisbé (La Cenerentola), Second Woman (Dido and Aeneas), Fjodor (Boris Godunov), Frau Reich (Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor), Phèdre (Hippolyte et Aricie), and others

Stages:
Opernhaus Zürich, Bregenzer Festspiele, Carnegie Hall, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Opera Holland Park, Verbier Festival, Aspen Music Festival

Song:
World Premiere of “Drei Grabschriften” (Stefano Gervasoni), Performances of “Animus II” (Druckman), “Folk Songs” (Berio) and “Liebeslieder Walzer” (Brahms), Competitor of the 2019 Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera Song Competition

Cooperation with Directors:
Edward Berkeley, Frank Castorf, Georges Delnon, James Darrah, Axel Ransich, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Jana Vetten, Stephen Wadsworth

Cooperation with Conductors:
Nicolas André, Paolo Arrivabeni, Giampaolo Bisanti, Daniele Callegari, William Christie, Jane Glover, Alexander Joel, Francesco Lanzillotta, Claire Levacher, Jeffrey Milarsky, Evelino Pidò, Teddy Poll, Avi Stein, Stephen Stubbs

Find further information about Kady Evanyshyn here.

Performances

photo: Brinkhoff/Mögenburg

Alt

Annika Schlicht

Tenor

Kai Kluge

Jüngling

Eric Lunga Hallam

Gazna, Mann

Christoph Pohl

Baritone

Christoph Pohl

Birthplace:
Hanover, Germany

Studies:
Opera singing studies at University of Music and Drama Hanover in Hanover at Prof. Carol Richardson-Smith, member of International Opera Studio of Staatsoper Hamburg (2003–2005)

Master class:
Prof. Klesy Kelly (Cologne), Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Piotr Beczala, Neal Shicoff

Prizes:
prizewinner of Bundeswettbewerb Gesang, prizewinner of Deutscher Musikrat-Wettbewerb, Schumann-Liedwettbewerbs (2008), Christel-Goltz-Preis der Semperoperstiftung (2008)

Important parts:
Papageno (The Magic Flute), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Marcello (La Bohème), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Olivier and Count (Capriccio), Harlequin and Music Teacher (Ariadne auf Naxos), Frank/Fritz (Die tote Stadt ), Ottokar (Der Freischütz), Danilo (Die lustige Witwe), Dr. Falke (Die Fledermaus), Valentin (Faust), Figaro (Il Barbiere di Sevillia), Belcore (L'elisir d'amore), Schwanda (Svanda dudak), Heerrufer (Lohengrin), Lescaut (Manon Lescaut), Sharpless (Butterfly), Germont (La Traviata), Posa (Don Carlo), Guillaume Tell (Guillaume Tell), Spielmann (Königskinder), Eugen Onegin (Eugen Onegin), Amfortas (Parsifal), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Johannes (Morgen und Abend), Alfonso (Die Jüdin von Toledo)

Stages:
Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper Leipzig, Maifestspiele Wiesbaden, Oper Frankfurt, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Wigmore Hall London, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro La Fenice Venice, Bregenz Festival, Theater an der Wien, Opernhaus Zürich, Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen, et al.

Cooperation with directors:
Johannes Erath, Klaus Guth, Peter Konwitschny, Stefan Herheim, Robert Carsen, Graham Vick, Andreas Homoki, Hans Neuenfels, Calixto Bieito, Damiano Michieletto, Jetzke Mijnssen, Lydia Steyer, Torsten Fischer, Elisabeth Stöppler, Axel Köhler, Markus Bothe

Cooperation with conductors:
Peter Schneider, Christian Thielemann, Donald Runnicles, Michael Boder, Axel Kober, Ivor Bolton, Nicola Luisotti, Giorgio Morandi, Cornelius Meister, Omer Meier Wellber, Sebastian Weigle

Find further information about Christoph Pohl here.

Performances

Engel

Xavier Sabata

Chor

Chor der Hamburgischen Staatsoper

Orchester

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg