JURY
Alexander
Joel
Conductor
Conductor Alexander Joel has been designated musical director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig in 2007/08. In the coming season Alexander Joel will also debut at the Staatsoper Hamburg with Bohème and return to the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden for the revival of Verdi's Macbeth. He will continue as guest conductor at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he recently celebrated a further triumph with a new production of Gounod's Faust, conducting Rossini's Turco in Italia and many additional revivals.
In the season 2006/2007 Alexander Joel is conducting a revival of Verdi's Macbeth at the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, debuting at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with a performance series of Puccini's Tosca, inaugurating the 150th season of the Teatro Municipal Santiago de Chile with a new production of Don Carlo and leading the new production of Faust at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. In commemoration of Mozart's 250th birthday he is conducting every performance of Entführung aus dem Serail at the Bayerische Staatsoper München as well as at the Münchner Opernfestspiele. Alexander Joel is a sought after guest of other renowned opera houses, among them the Finnish National Opera Helsinki, the Teatro Regio di Parma, the Oper Köln and the Komische Oper Berlin.
Alexander Joel is also a highly successful international concert conductor with top-class engagements. This season, he will perform with Juan Diego Flórez at a gala concert at the Théâtre de Champs-Elysées, and conduct a Mozart/Beethoven programme at Suntory Hall Tokyo in October 2006 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, which immediately re-invited him after his successful debut in 2004. In December 2005 he debuted at the Philharmonie Berlin with the DSO Berlin and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. He has also collaborated with the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, the Gü rzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Duisburger Philharmoniker and the Orchestre de Nancy, as well as with renowned soloists such as Yuri Bashmet, Julian Rachlin, Mischa Maisky, Sabine Meyer, Sir Thomas Allen and Catherine Malfitano.
The new production of Catlani's rarely performed opera La Wally at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf was a triumph for Alexander Joel, who received rave reviews from press and audiences alike. This followed his successful debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper München as well as his debuts in Scandinavia (Finnish National Opera Helsinki) and Italy (Teatro Regio di Parma).
Since the 2001/02 season, Alexander Joel has held the 1st Kapellmeister position at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he conducted numerous highly acclaimed premieres such as Trittico, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Entführung aus dem Serail. At the age of 24 he gave his debut at the Nürnberg Opera House. Soon after his graduation in 1996, Alexander Joel won numerous prizes at the European Conductors Competition in Spoleto, Italy. His first performances took place at the Stadttheater Baden and Klagenfurt as well as the Wiener Volksoper. He has been invited to conduct at numerous German opera houses, among them the Komische Oper Berlin and the Opernhaus Köln.
In 1990, Alexander Joel began studying piano (and later also composition) at the Vienna Academy of Music, before starting his conducting studies in 1991 at the Vienna Conservatory of Music (under Prof. Mark and Prof. Schwarz); he graduated with Honours in 1996. During this time he attended numerous master-classes with renowned conductors (such as Hans Graf, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Gustav Kuhn and Sergiu Celibidache), and participated in the 1996 conducting master-classes in Tanglewood. After university he worked as assistant to Julius Rudel, Muhai Tang and Gustav Kuhn.
