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Dorian WILSON |
Born in 1964, Dorian Wilson, one of Leonard Bernstein’s last students, first received international recognition at the 1989 Malko International Conducting Competition, at age 24. As a result he was asked to be the second conductor for the Moscow Philharmonic; an unprecedented appointment in Russia; making Wilson the first American guest conductor in fifteen years and, at 25 years old, the youngest conductor in their history. Later Wilson was to be the first guest conductor of the Russian National Orchestra. He continues his close associations in Russia, especially with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic where he frequently conducts. Future plans include Wilson conducting the St. Petersburg Symphony on a tour of China. He has performed in the great halls of Paris, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam, Florence, Seoul, and St. Petersburg. From 2006 Wilson is the new Music Director of the Belgrade Philharmonic, beginning with tours of Scandinavia and Switzerland.
Between 1998 and 2003 Wilson was Music Director of Theater Vorpommern, Germany (budget €19 million), where a solid opera repertoire was grounded, including “Tosca”, “Rusalka”, “Fidelio”, “Othello”, Britten’s “ Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Madame Butterfly”, “Der Freischütz”, “Pagliacci”, “Gianni Schicchi”, “Rigoletto”, “Aida” as well as numerous contemporary operas. Other opera performances include the highly acclaimed production of Mozart’s “Cosí fan Tutte at the Grand Theatre de Bordeaux, for the Deutsche Oper Berlin production of Mozart’s “Nozze di Figaro” and continues his work in Berlin with Bizet’s “Carmen”, Puccini’s “Turandot” and Verdi’s “La Traviata” at Komische Oper Berlin. Wilson made his Royal Swedish Opera debut with “Nozze di Figaro” and conducted the production of “Lohengrin” at the Deutsches National Theater Weimar, where he was immediately asked to conduct the new production of “La Boheme”.
As recognized by the International Federation of Music Competitions, Wilson has won more International prizes for conducting than any other conductor. Since 1989 Wilson has won an additional 8 prizes in every conducting competition he has entered, virtually every one of the world’s major competitions: Dimtri Mitropoulos; Athens, 1996, Kiril Kondrashin; Amsterdam, 1994, Tokyo International; Tokyo, 1994, Antonio Pedrotti; Italy, 1991, Arturo Toscanini; Italy, 1990, 1992, Nicolai Malko; Copenhagen, 1989, 1992 and Jean Sibelius; Helsinki, 1995.
Always wanting to bring out the less-known masterworks, Dorian Wilson premiered many works unknown to the East German audience, including the works of Ginastera, Copland, Martinu, Piazolla, C. Koechlin, Britten, Respighi and de Falla. He also had the privilege of conducting the German premiere of Jean Sibelius’ complete penultimate opus “The Tempest” as well as the Danish premiere of Debussy’s „Pelléas et Mélisande“ Symphony (M. Constant) as well as the Scandinavian premier of Samuel Barber’s “Toccata Festiva for Organ and Orchestra”. In 2005 he conducted the first Russian performance of Schmitt “Salome” with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
Wilson has collaborated with some of the most distinguished soloists. While conducting the “Winner’s Concert” with the Helsinki Philharmonic (after the Sibelius Competition) he had the honor of performing what was to be Sura Cherkarsky’s last orchestra engagement before his death. He has performed with M. Rostropovich in Germany and Italy and was the featured conductor in a BBC film working with Yo-Yo Ma called “A Month at Tanglewood”. Other soloists include: Thomas Zehetmair, Vladmir Viardo, Barry Douglas, Boris Berezovsky and Nabuko Imai.
Live television broadcasts include Danish National Radio Orchestra (in the presence of Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of Denmark); Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam); Russian National Orchestra (Bolshoi Hall, Moscow); Finnish Radio Orchestra (Finlandia Hall); and a documentary of a concert tour of Norway. Numerous radio programs have also been broadcast.
Wilson’s Conservatory studies are in piano, viola, composition, art history, and conducting; from Oberlin Conservatory (Piano and Art History), Indiana University (Piano and Viola), the University of Michigan (Orchestral Conducting and Opera Coaching), and the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna (Conducting). His teachers include Gustav Meier, Dmitri Kitaenko, Rudolph Barshai, and Leonard Bernstein.