Walter Kobera, Conductor
Lecturer Prakticum Modern Music
kobera@mdw.ac.at

Walter Kobéra is one of the leading conductors for contemporary musical theater. Through the numerous successful premières and premieres under his direction, he has actively shaped Viennese music scene for the past few years.

Since 1991, Walter Kobéra has been musical director of the Neue Oper Wien, since 1993 he has also been general director there. He began his violin studies at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna at the age of seven. From 1978 onwards he was a member of the Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich, as conductor as well as the musical assistant of Isaac Karabtchevsky and Fabio Luisi. In 1986, he founded his “Amadeus Ensemble-Wien”, which has specialized in contemporary musical theater in recent years.

His interpretations such as of Berg's Lulu, Britten’s Billy Budd, Lachenmann's “Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern”, Schedl's Triptych, and the opera "PARADISE RELOAEDED (LILITH)" which was dedicated to him by Peter Eötvös were all productions highly celebrated by both the press and audience.

Walter Kobéra has held a long-term artistic collaboration with the KangBogen Vienna, the OsterKlang Vienna and the Wiener Festwochen. Since 2005, he has regularly worked as a guest with the Neue Oper Vienna at the International Chamber-Opera Festival in Zwolle / NL. In 2006, the first coproduction of the Neue Oper Wien with the Bregenz Festival took place under his direction.

He has conducted concerts with Austrian and European symphony orchestras, including the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, the Bruckner Orchester Linz, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Budapest Hungarian Radio Orchestra, the Wiener Concert-Verein and the Ensemble "die reihe". In addition to numerous concerts and opera performances, there are also video- and CD recordings, including Brahms' "Ein Deutsches Requiem", Verdi's "Macbeth", Wolfram Wagner's "Endlich Schluss" and Richard Dünser's "Radek".

An invitation by the Theater an der Wien resulted the first recordings of Iain Bell’s song cycle "A Hidden Place" with Diana Damrau as soloist as well as the new production of Kurt Weill's "Die Sieben Todsünden". In July 2011 Walter Kobéra was invited by Peter Eötvös to the prestigious Festival of Aix en Provence to represent the Neue Oper Wien. In December 2013, the conductor celebrated his debut at the Cologne Opera. Walter Kobéra is lecturer for modern music at the University of Vienna and a jury member of verious national and international competitions for singing and musical theater.