Tilman Michael (born 1975) is a German choral conductor. He has been choral conductor at Oper Frankfurt since 2014. There and in his previous position at the Nationaltheater Mannheim he led the opera chorus to be voted opera chorus of the year by the critics from Opernwelt. He is appointed to lead the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera from the 2024/25 season.
Tilman Michael | |
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| Born | 1975 (age 48–49) |
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Career
editMichael was born 1975 in Stuttgart.[1][2] He was a member of the boys' choir Collegium Iuvenum there in the early 1990s.[3] He studied at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart and the Musikhochschule Köln.[1] Right afterwards he became second choral conductor at the Hamburg State Opera. He moved on to the Nationaltheater Mannheim where he had his first leading position,[4][5] improving the quality of the group to being awarded the distinction Opera choir of the year by the critics of the trade magazine Opernwelt.[6][7][8]
From 2014, Michael was choral conductor at the Oper Frankfurt, achieving the distinction Opera choir of the year several times,[1] last in 2023, for the new productions of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Handel's Hercules.[6][9][10]
Michael was assistant choral conductor at the Bayreuth Festival for ten years. He has prepared choirs at leading companies of the world such as Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Semperoper in Dresden, Staatstheater Stuttgart, in Moscow and Vienna,[6] having rehearsed more than 150 operas. He prepared Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.[11]
Michael also worked with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and with radio choirs including the BR Chor, MDR Rundfunkchor, NDR Chor, and WDR Rundfunkchor Köln. He performed with vocal ensembles in churches and leading concert halls of 25 countries,[6] including the Elbphilharmonie, the Kölner Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Dortmund.[7][12] Michael conducted world premieres of music by Adriana Hölszky,[13] Bernhard Lang,[14] Olga Neuwirth[15] and Salvatore Sciarrino.[7][16] He was a guest conductor at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl for Bach's Christmas Oratorio[17] and prepared the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus for the Brahms Requiem.[7]
Michael is the chorus master designate of the Metropolitan Opera (Met) from the 2024/25 season,[5][6][18] succeeding Donald Palumbo[19] who retired at age 75 after 17 seasons with the company.[1][4][5] He had worked with the music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in 2019 when he prepared the BR Chor for Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Nézet-Séguin and Thomas Lausmann, the Met's director of music administration, approached him as a candidate in 2023. [5] Lausmann watched a performance of Verdi's Don Carlo in Frankfurt, and Michael watched Verdi's La forza del destino and Puccini's Turandot. Michael, as other candidates, spent a day rehearsing with the Met chorus,[5] working on Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Puccini's La Rondine and The Hours by Kevin Puts and Greg Pierce.[4] In the announcement of his appointment, Nézet-Séguin described Michael, then age 49,[4] as a "longtime collaborator and friend" and said: "He has an innate understanding of the complexity of the voice and draws out the best in the choruses he works with".[4][5][6]
His first premiere is the opening performance of the 2024/25 season, Grounded by Jeanine Tesori.[20] He is scheduled to prepare the chorus for Die Frau ohne Schatten and a new work by John Adams.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Sternburg, Jutta von (4 April 2024). "Chorleiter Tilman Michael an die Met – Ein Frankfurter in New York". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ Sternburg, Judith von (2 December 2021). "Chorleiter Tilman Michael: "Vor 20 Jahren war viel mehr Konfrontation und Anspannung"". FR.de (in German). Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ Benda, Susanne (4 April 2024). "Superman der Chormusik". Stuttgarter Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f Hernández, Javier C. (3 April 2024). "Met Opera Chooses Tilman Michael as Next Chorus Master". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f Blum, Ronald (3 April 2024). "Tilman Michael to become Metropolitan Opera chorus director, succeeding Donald Palumbo". The Independent. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "Metropolitan Opera appoints Tilman Michael as New Chorus Director" (Press release). Metropolitan Opera. 3 April 2024. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Tilman Michael". Dresdner Philharmonie. 2024. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ Merschmeier, Michael (9 September 2014). "Artikel "Ein Klangkörper, aus Einzelstimmen"". Der Theaterverlag (in German). Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ Richter, Alexandra (6 December 2022). "Welch Traumwahndeuterei! Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Frankfurt". Bachtrack (in German). Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ Sternburg, Judith von (1 May 2023). ""Hercules" an der Oper Frankfurt: Adieu, Liebe, adieu Freiheit". FR.de (in German). Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ Vieth, Michael (9 December 2022). "Faszinierender Lohengrin an der Bayerischen Staatsoper". Bachtrack (in German). Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ "Giuseppe Verdi: Stiffelio". Konzerthaus Dortmund (in German). Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ "Nationaltheater Mannheim". Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German). 31 May 2014. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ "Uraufführung von Bernhard Langs neuem Musiktheater "Montezuma – Fallender Adler" im Nationaltheater Mannheim". Theaterkompass – Für Theaterbesucher und Theatermacher (in German). 19 March 2010. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ "Uraufführung: The Outcast von Olga Neuwirth im Nationaltheater Mannheim". Theaterkompass – Für Theaterbesucher und Theatermacher (in German). 18 May 2012. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ "Nationaltheater Mannheim: Superflumina von Salvatore Sciarrino heute im Opernhaus". Freunde der Künste (in German). 20 May 2011. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ Köll, Edith (11 November 2022). "Tiroler Festspiele Erl Winter: Fulminantes Jubiläum". SIMsKultur (in German). Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ "Tilman Michael wechselt nach New York". Bayerischer Rundfunk (in German). 4 April 2024. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ Goodwin, Jay. "Voice Leader". Metropolitan Opera. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ ""Große Sache": Tilman Michael startet an New Yorker Met". Neue Musikzeitung (in German). dpa. 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
Further reading
edit- Göpfert, Claus-Jürgen (22 January 2019). "Das Glücksgefühl des Gesangs". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- Holze, Guido (4 April 2024). "Tilman Michael wird für ein Jahr Chordirektor der New Yorker Met". FAZ.NET (in German). Retrieved 29 October 2024.
- Woolfe, Zachary (27 October 2024). "Review: 'Il Trovatore' at the Met Opera Doesn't Catch Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 October 2024.