During our first collaboration – Alban Berg’s Lulu in 2010 – I got to know Michael as an artist whose satisfaction depended on whether he managed to get the best out of his counterpart. Michael’s heart pounded to the last beat for this artistic interplay. Rest in peace, dear friend.
Stefan Herheim
Vienna (OTS) – The MusikTheater an der Wien is saddened to mourn the loss of conductor Michael Boder. He died at the age of 65 on April 7th in Vienna. Like no other, he dedicated himself to modernism and contemporary music theater and was able to achieve great success, especially in Vienna. Michael Boder was currently rehearsing the project he helped design at our house, with which he had been closely associated for many years Friday the thirteenth in honor of the composer Arnold Schönberg. At the Theater an der Wien he directed new productions of Igor Stravinsky The Rake’s ProgressFranz Schubert LazarusGottfried von Einems The visit of the old ladythe premieres by Anno Schreiers Hamlet and Christian Josts Egmont as well as the opening concert of the 2011/12 season. Michael Boder worked tirelessly and passionately for the music of the 20th and 21st centuries and conducted premieres by Georg Friedrich Haas, Friedrich Cerha, Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, Manfred Trojahn and Aribert Reimann, among others. The sudden death of this highly esteemed colleague and artist leaves a painful void and is a great loss for the MusikTheater an der Wien and the world of music. Our thoughts and deep sympathy are with Michael Boder’s partner and his beloved family.
Stefan Herheim, director and artistic director of the MusikTheater an der Wien: “During our first collaboration – Alban Bergs Lulu in 2010 – I got to know Michael as an artist whose satisfaction depended on whether he managed to get the best out of his counterpart. Michael’s heart pounded to the last beat for this artistic interplay. Rest easy, dear friend.”
Michael Boder was born in Darmstadt in 1958 and completed his studies in Hamburg and Florence. He began his career as Michael Gielen’s assistant at the Frankfurt Opera and soon began conducting himself in Munich, Zurich, Hamburg and Berlin. At the age of 29 he became music director of the Basel Opera. He held the position of music director at the Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona from 2008 to 2012, after which he was chief conductor of Det Kongelige Teater Copenhagen until 2016. In recent decades, Michael Boder has been a regular guest at the Theater an der Wien. Michael Boder was also associated with the Vienna State Opera and the houses in Berlin, Dresden, Tokyo, San Francisco, Brussels and Milan. In addition to his broad repertoire of Wagner, R. Strauss, Bruckner, Mahler, Berg and Schönberg, he was particularly interested in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He realized numerous premieres and world premieres by composers such as Henze, Reimann, Penderecki, Trojahn and many others.
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