Wilson Hermanto

Conductor

American conductor Wilson Hermanto has a number of successful appearances to his credit, among them a performance with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken in December 2014 conducting critically acclaimed concerts commemorating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss. In the 2014-15 season Hermanto made his debut conducting the Orchestre National de Lorraine in Metz (France) for a Hungarian programme including music by Liszt and Bartók as well as return engagements to the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. The latter half of 2015 saw Hermanto appear in a project with the new music group Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva conducting music by Boulez to celebrate his 90th anniversary year.

Hermanto has worked with the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre National d’Île de France and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. Other recent engagements have included performances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra for a critically acclaimed complete Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, the English Chamber Orchestra, the NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.

During the anniversary years of Gustav Mahler in 2010 and 2011, Hermanto together with the eminent Mahlerian musicologist Henry-Louis de la Grange, the celebrated mezzo Christa Ludwig, the soprano Miah Persson and the Sinfonietta de Lausanne collaborated in Mahler projects the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, culminating in performances of the composer’s First and Fourth Symphonies as well as master-classes and a symposium. 2011 also saw a collaboration of Hermanto with the stage director Stephan Groegler in a successful stage production of Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfersin Geneva.

Born of Chinese descent in Jakarta (Indonesia), Wilson Hermanto began his musical training on the piano and the violin, obtaining his degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and conducting studies at the Manhattan School of Music with the late Swedish conductor Sixten Ehrling. He was one of the last pupils of Carlo Maria Giulini at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy. Hermanto also studied conducting at the Tanglewood Music Center and under Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy. For many years Hermanto had a close relationship with Sir Colin Davis as his musical mentor.

Early in his conducting career Hermanto founded the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra in New York which he directed from 1996-2002. Thereafter he went to the Cleveland Orchestra as Assistant Conductor and Staff Conductor from 2002-04.

American conductor Wilson Hermanto has a number of successful appearances to his credit, among them a performance with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken in December 2014 conducting critically acclaimed concerts commemorating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss. In the 2014-15 season Hermanto made his debut conducting the Orchestre National de Lorraine in Metz (France) for a Hungarian programme including music by Liszt and Bartók as well as return engagements to the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá and the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. The latter half of 2015 saw Hermanto appear in a project with the new music group Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva conducting music by Boulez to celebrate his 90th anniversary year.

Hermanto has worked with the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre National d’Île de France and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. Other recent engagements have included performances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra for a critically acclaimed complete Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, the English Chamber Orchestra, the NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.

During the anniversary years of Gustav Mahler in 2010 and 2011, Hermanto together with the eminent Mahlerian musicologist Henry-Louis de la Grange, the celebrated mezzo Christa Ludwig, the soprano Miah Persson and the Sinfonietta de Lausanne collaborated in Mahler projects the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, culminating in performances of the composer’s First and Fourth Symphonies as well as master-classes and a symposium. 2011 also saw a collaboration of Hermanto with the stage director Stephan Groegler in a successful stage production of Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfersin Geneva.

Born of Chinese descent in Jakarta (Indonesia), Wilson Hermanto began his musical training on the piano and the violin, obtaining his degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and conducting studies at the Manhattan School of Music with the late Swedish conductor Sixten Ehrling. He was one of the last pupils of Carlo Maria Giulini at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy. Hermanto also studied conducting at the Tanglewood Music Center and under Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy. For many years Hermanto had a close relationship with Sir Colin Davis as his musical mentor.

Early in his conducting career Hermanto founded the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra in New York which he directed from 1996-2002. Thereafter he went to the Cleveland Orchestra as Assistant Conductor and Staff Conductor from 2002-04.