| Ralf Weikert - Conductor |
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In 1965 Weikert won the First Prize at the Nicolai-Malko-Competition in Copenhagen. In the following year he was granted the Mozart-Interpretation prize by the Austrian Minister of Education. In 1975 the Dr.-Karl-Böhm-Award was presented to him from the great conductor himself. In 2000 the artist was awarded the “Österreichische Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst I. Klasse.
Until 1977 Ralf Weikert was Principal Conductor and Musical Director of the City Theatre in Bonn. After an appointment as executive Generalmusikdirektor at the Frankfurt Opera, in 1981 he came to Salzburg as Principal Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra and Director of the Landestheater. In 1974 Weikert made his debut at the Vienna State Opera and in 1975 at the Hamburg State Opera. His appearances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1979 were followed by performances at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (1981) and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York (1987).
Since 1971 Ralf Weikert has been a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival, the festival in Aix-en-Provence, the Bregenz Festival and since 1987 the Arena di Verona as well.
Ralf Weikert has made guest appearances, both as concert and opera conductor in all important music centres in Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Greece, Scandinavia, USA and Japan. Numerous recordings as well as radio and TV productions in Europe and the US took place under his direction.
From 1983 until 1992 Ralf Weikert was Music Director of the Zürich Opera. Since then he works as a free-lance conductor in opera and concert, with regular guest-contracts with the opera houses in Zürich, Munich, Düsseldorf, Dresden, Vienna as well as with numerous orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic.
During the 2002/03 season the artist will conduct at the Opera Houses of Santiago de Chile, Helsinki, Hamburg, München and Vienna. Amongst other cities he will conduct concerts in Athens, Bremen, Hannover, Ljubljana, Stuttgart, Valencia, etc.