Michael Zehetner

Conductor

– General Management –

Born in Upper Austria, Michael Zehetner first studied piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. This was followed by conducting studies at the Vienna Conservatory in the class of Georg Mark and Reinhard Schwarz, which he completed with distinction in 2007 in a concert with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as guest appearances with Franz Welser-Möst at the Zurich Opera House, Dennis Russell Davies at the Brucknerhaus Linz, Semyon Bychkov at the Opera Bastille and Adam Fischer.
He has also received scholarships from the Province of Upper Austria and the Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture as well as the Richard Wagner Scholarship.
Already during his studies, Michael Zehetner was engaged at the Landestheater Detmold/NRW. A stand-in for Hoffmann’s Tales opened up many more conducting opportunities for him, including Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die Entführung aus dem Serail or Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. In addition, he supervised the rehearsal of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen there.
In 2009 he received an invitation to Gdansk to conduct the opening concert at the Organ Festival in Oliwa with the Polish-Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra.
A year later, Michael Zehetner moved to the Erfurt Theatre. There he conducted Purcell’s King Arthur, My Fair Lady, Die Csardasfürstin and Die Fledermaus, which he also conducted in 2014 at the Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen with the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento.
At the Neue Oper Wien he assisted with Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at the Museumsquartier Wien in 2012. He also works regularly with the Ensemble Neue Streicher.
Since September 2022, Michael Zehetner has been chief conductor of Bühne Baden/Austria, where he has already conducted numerous opera, operetta and musical productions such as La Traviata, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Die Fledermaus, Eine Nacht in Venedig, Ein Walzertraum, Das Feuerwerk, Die goldene Meisterin, which have been released on DVD and broadcast on ORFIII and 3sat. Most recently, he was responsible for Carmen as musical director.
Since the 2016/17 season, he has also been a regular guest conductor in Boston, Vancouver and Toronto as part of the Salute to Vienna concert series. Michael Zehetner was also closely associated with the Lehàr Festival Bad Ischl, where he conducted Der fidele Bauer, Paganini, Im weissen Rössl or Zigeunerliebe. At KlassikKlang Berndorf (artistic director KS Daniela Fally) he conducted The Magic Flute for Children in 2022.
Future plans include a ballet evening with music by Debussy, the operetta Three Waltzes directed by Ruth Brauer-Kvam, a Handel festival concert with the Ensemble Neue Streicher and a concert tour to Kaunas/Lithuania.