Martin Fischer-Dieskau
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Martin Fischer-Dieskau (born 1954) is a German conductor, currently Music Director-Designate of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.
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[edit] Early Life
Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin to a musical family; his father is the noted singer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Fischer-Dieskau's older brother, Mathias, is a highly regarded stage designer, and his younger brother, Manuel, is a cellist. Fischer-Dieskau claims that his desire to be a conductor dates from 1961, when he and his older brother visited a rehearsal of Don Giovanni at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in which his father was starring.
[edit] Education
Fischer-Dieskau studied conducting, violin and piano in at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin and the Accademia Chigiana di Siena. He participated in masterclasses with Franco Ferrara, Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein. From 1976 to 1977 he was a laureate in the German Music League's National Selection of Young Artists, and in 1978 and 1988 was awarded scholarships by the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship Program at Tanglewood.
[edit] Musical Career
In the 1978/79 season, he was assistant conductor to Antal Dorati at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. After positions in Augsburg, Aachen and Hagen, Fischer-Dieskau became principal conductor at Theater Bern in 1991. He was guest conductor at festivals in Helsinki and Granada, and served as artistic director of the 1993 Youth Festival at Bayreuth. He has held a professorship in conducting at the University of the Arts Bremen since 1995. He has produced and hosted his own television series of eleven musical “tours” that were telecast throughout Germany.
From June 1, 2001 to November 2003, he served as artistic director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. There was some controversy in the local press over the circumstances of his departure from the position, which was reportedly acrimonious.
Fischer-Dieskau has travelled extensively across Europe and North America for professional engagements, including with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Moscow State Orchestra and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.
In 2008 Fischer-Dieskau was appointed music director-designate of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. He is due to conduct four concerts and one opera in 2008 and is scheduled to be appointed to the position on a permanent basis in 2009.
[edit] Recordings
- Concert for Lidice (BIS-CD-578), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, New Berlin Chamber Orchestra
- Humperdinck: Moorish Rhapsody/Sleeping Beauty (Naxos 8.223369), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
