Stefan Blunier is General Music Director of
the city of Bonn - he is at the same time chief
conductor of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn and of the Bonn Opera, which received nationwide attention through
his productions of Eugen d’ Albert’s Der Golemand Franz Schreker’s Irrelohe.
Both productions are meanwhile available as complete
recordings with Dabringhaus & Grimm and were awarded with
prestigious prizes: the ECHO 2011 (Golem) and 2012 (Irrelohe)
as well as the “Preis der
Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 1/2012”
(Irrelohe). He conducted the Beethoven Orchester Bonn in important venues, such as the Kölner Philharmonie,
Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Großes
Festspielhaus Salzburg. Extensive
tours, recently to Chinaand in spring 2013
to the USA, and the continuation of regular CD-recordings are planned. Meanwhile Blunier’s
discography with rarely performed
works of Anton Bruckner, Franz Liszt und Franz Schmidt has become
impressive. In addition to his Bonn position Stefan Blunier is first guest
conductor of the Orchestre National de
Belgique/Brüssel since the season 2010/11.
Upcoming engagements include Strauss’ Daphneat Oper Frankfurt, Rigolettoat Oper Zürich, Les Contes d’ Hoffmannat De Norske Opera Oslo and – already in 2012/13 - new
productions of Hindemith’s Triptychonand Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at the Bonn Opera.
Stefan Blunier started conducting at the theatres of Mainzand Augsburg, became 1. Kapellmeister at Nationaltheater Mannheim und was General Music Director at the Staatstheater Darmstadt from 2001/02 to
the end of 2008. As winner of different competitions (Besancon 1990 und Malko 1992 in Kopenhagen) he received
international invitations. Blunier was guest of nearly all German
Rundfunkorchestern, the Gewandhausorchester
Leipzig, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Staatsphilharmonie Ludwigshafen, Duisburger
Sinfoniker as well as leading orchestras in Danmark, Belgium, Italy, Korea, Switzerlandand France. Opera engagements let him to
the improtant opera houses in Munich,
Hamburg, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Berlin (Komische
Oper and Deutsche Oper), as well as Montpellier, Oslo
and Bern. Since 2008/09 a close cooperation was established with the
Komische Oper Berlin: After Prokofjew’s Liebe zu den drei Orangenand concerts a new production of
Poulenc’s Dialogue des Carmelites was on his agenda. At the English National Opera Blunier performed
the original version of Henze’s Elegy
for young lovers with considerable success. He
conducted the world premiere of Bluthaus by Haas at the Schwetzinger
Festspiele.
The Suisse conductor
studied piano, horn, composition and conductiongin
his native town Bernand at the Folkwang Hochschule
Essen. Already during his studies he
founded the „Ensemble für Neue Musik Essen“ and played internationally recitals, broadcast productions and Liederabende as pianist.
www.stefanblunier.com