Matthias Bamert

Matthias Bamert (born 5 July 1942 in Ersigen, Canton of Bern) is a Swiss composer and conductor.

Matthias Bamert studied music in his native Switzerland as well as in Paris and Darmstadt, falling in with the likes of Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen; these associations can be detected in his own compositions from the 1970's. From 1965 until 1969 he was principal oboist with the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg.

Matthias Bamert's conducting career began in North America as an apprentice to George Szell and later as Assistant Conductor to Leopold Stokowski, and Resident Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under Lorin Maazel. He was music director of the Swiss Radio Orchestra from 1977 to 1983, then began making a wider reputation across Europe.

Principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Director of the Glasgow contemporary music festival "Musica Nova" from 1985 to 1990, Bamert conducted world premieres of works by many composers, such as Toru Takemitsu, John Casken, James MacMillan and Wolfgang Rihm. His gift for imaginary programming came to the fore during his tenure as Director of the Lucerne Festival from 1992 to 1998, when he was also responsible for the opening of a new concert hall, instituted a new Easter Festival as well as a piano festival, expanded the program and increased the festival’s activities several times over.

Music Director of the London Mozart Players from 1993 to 2000, Matthias Bamert has masterminded a hugely successful series of recordings for Chandos Records entitled 'Contemporaries of Mozart' which has already exceeded 70 symphonies. He has worked frequently in the concert hall and studio with such orchestras as the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and BBC Symphony Orchestra, appears regularly at the London Proms and with orchestras outside of London, such as the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. From 2000 to 2005 he was principal guest conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra .

From 2003 to 2008 Matthias Bamert was associate guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In the USA he has conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, and the National Symphony. He is a regular guest in the Far East and Australasia, including concerts with the NHK Symphony, the Hong Kong Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. From 2003 until 2007 he was principal conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth and from 2005 until 2008 of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur.

Matthias Bamert guest conducts extensively in Europe with such orchestras as the Orchestre de Paris, Berliner Sinfoniker, Helsinki Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Wiener Sinfoniker and Warsaw Philharmonic, among others.

A prolific recording artist, he has made over 80 discs, many of which have won international prizes.

^[1]</ref> Bamert was named chief conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in November 2004,^[2] and served in the post from 2005 to 2008.

References

1. ^ Stephen Bevis (2007-01-01). "Make play while sun shines". The West Australian. http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=182&ContentID=17505. Retrieved 2009-03-03. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Ben Mattison (2004-11-29). "Malaysian Philharmonic Names Matthias Bamert as Principal Conductor". Playbill Arts. http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/841.html. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 

External links

• Bamert's discography at Theclassicalshop.net Linked to from Chandos Records
• Biography
• "International Matthias Bamert Society" April Fools' Joke Linked at Alex Ross' blog

Preceded by Kees Bakels

Music Director, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra 2005–2008

Succeeded by Claus Peter Flor

Persondata
Name	Bamert, Matthias
Alternative names
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Date of birth	1942-07-05
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death