Pedro Halffter
b. 1971
Spanish
Summary
Biography
Pedro Halffter Caro, born in Madrid in 1971, is Artistic Director of Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza, and Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria.
Halffter studied at the prestigious Schule Schloss Salem in Germany, and attended conducting classes with such eminent teachers as Karl Oesterreicher, Bruno Weil, Ilya Musin and Ferdinand Leitner, continuing his studies at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik (conducting) and in New York (composition).
Pedro Halffter has composed more than twenty works. These have been premiered by the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerakademie, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Intercontemporain, among others, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and the Dortmund Philharmonie.
Halffter has recently arranged two of the most beautiful operas by Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser and Siegfried. He has made two arrangements of the former: a coral-symphonic version and an alternative symphonic version, with which he has had an enormous success in Spain and France. The symphonic version of Siegfried shall be premiered in February 2014 by the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria.
Pedro Halffter’s knowledge of the orchestra in the position of its conductor is one of his key advantages as a composer. He embodies with perfection the composer/conductor duality and makes the most out of it. While conducting, he often feels the need to compose provoked by his love for the greatness of classic repertoire and preserves a highly intellectual approach to his music.
Halffter belongs to the renowned Spanish-German composer saga. He is son to Cristóbal Halffter, who is the nephew of Rodolfo and Ernesto Halffter, the latter of which was a pupil of Manuel de Falla. Wise Music is proud to count with works by all these brilliant composers in its catalogue.
Considered one of the best conductors of symphonic repertoire of his generation, he has also a successful career as opera conductor, having conducted more than thirty works, including, in recent years, La fanciulla del West, Tristan und Isolde, Carmen and Norma with the Dresden Philharmonic, and the Spanish premieres of Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang, Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg and Eine Florentinische Tragödie, Busoni’s Doktor Faust and Strauss’s Die schweigsame Frau at Teatro de la Maestranza (Seville), and Krenek’s Orpheus und Eurydike at Teatro Real (Madrid). He has also recently conducted Tannhäuser, in a new production by Katharina Wagner, and made his debut at the Staatsoper in Berlin with Strauss’s Salome. Future opera projects include both Busoni’s and Puccini’s Turandot in Seville, and Der Ferne Klang and Salome at Berlin Staatsoper.
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