Conductors

Michael Guettler Conductor

Michael Güttler has become one of the most successful young conductors of today after his sensational covering on very short notice for Valery Gergiev in performances of Wagner’s The Ring and Parsifal at the Mariinskij in St. Petersburg, which has earned him high esteem by the press and a recognition from Wolfgang Wagner in Bayreuth.

2006-2007 includes Maestro Güttler’s conducting debuts at the Opéra National de Paris at the Bastille, the Royal Opera House in Goteborg, Sweden, the San Carlo (Naples) and the Minnesota Opera. In March 2007, Michael Güttler has conducted several performances of Lakme with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for the Minnesota Opera. In June 2007, he will return to appear in concert at Round Top Festival, Texas in a program of Rossini, Schumann, and Rimsky-Korsakov and is scheduled for Don Giovanni at the Bastille in Paris. Earlier this season, he appeared in a gala concert with fine soprano Anna Netrebko, with whom he began to work in 2004 and has been associated since.

Earlier in 2006, Maestro Güttler conducted at the Mariinskij Theatre performances of Falstaff, Le Nozze di Figaro, Otello, and more. He also conducted several works, such as Pagliacci, Shostakovich's The Nose, Figaro and Parsifal during "The White Nights." He lead Mozart's Abduction in Mexico City, followed by Ring performances in Baden-Baden.

In addition to his guest conducting at the Mariisnkij Theatre, Maestro Güttler has appeared with international orchestras and opera companies such as the Staatskapelle, Semper Opera, and the Philharmonic in Dresden, the German State Opera in Berlin; “La Fenice” in Venice; Teatro San Carlos in Naples; Orchestra du Capitole de Toulouse, the Vienna Symphony, and with NDR Orchestra in Hannover.

Mr. Güttler was born into a family of musicians in Dresden, Germany. He studied violin, trumpet, piano and choral conducting at the University for Music Carl Maria von Weber and also took master classes from Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Celibidache, Miltiades Caridis, Ilya Musin, and Valery Gergiev, after which he was accepted into the “Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrates.”

He was awarded several first prizes at the beginning of his international career, including the “Franco Capuana” in Spoleto, Italy (1996); the “Bottega” in Treviso, Italy (1994); at the International Conductor’s Forum in Hamm, Germany (1993); and “Conduct for Dance” in London, England (1993).

From 1998 – 2002, he was chief conductor at the State Theatre in Klagenfurt, Austria, the youngest conductor to hold that post.

Since 2002, he has been the guest conductor and assistant to Valery Gergiev at the Mariinskij Theatre in St. Petersburg.

Michael Güttler speaks fluent Russian, English, Italian and German.