Conductor

The Swedish conductor Ola Rudner started his career as a high-profile violinist (he is a prize winner of the Paganini Competition and was also assistant of Sándor Végh) and Konzertmeister of various orchestras such as the Camerata Salzburg, the Volksopera Vienna and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In 1995 he founded the Philharmonia Wien, from 2001-2003 he was Chief Conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Australia. Since 2003/2004 he is Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Haydn of Bolzano. He will be the new Chief Conductor of Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, starting September 2008.

Since 1997 Ola Rudner has conducted all the major Australian orchestras: the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the orchestras of Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmania, Adelaide and Perth. In Scandinavia he has conducted most of the orchestras including the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the orchestras in Trondheim, Bergen, Aalborg, Malmö, Helsingborg etc. He also collaborated with orchestras like the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Latvian National Philharmonic, Orchestra Fondazione Arena of Verona, and many times with the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester.
He performs annually at the Musikverein in Vienna with the Philharmonia Wien, with whom he went on tour to Japan, Poland, Yugoslavia, Austria and Turkey. He has a long-term collaboration with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, with whom he is recording for BIS the complete works by the British composer, Sally Beamish. In 2005 he recorded Viola Concerto by Beamish with soloist Tabea Zimmermann.

Ola Rudner also enjoyed a great success with opera repertoire. Since many years he conducts at the Volksoper Wien and he is regularly invited to the opera houses of Australia, Sweden and Italy. His repertoire includes Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, La Clemenza di Tito, Idomeneo, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Verdi’s La Traviata, Il Trovatore, operettas by Offenbach, Strauss, Lehár and Kálmán.
His concert programmes include the main works by Rossini, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, J. Strauss, Mahler, Sibelius, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Elgar, Schönberg, Kodaly, Szymanovski, Berio.

Highlights of the past seasons have been his debuts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra RAI di Torino, the Slovenian Philharmonic, Orchestra Teatro La Fenice of Venice, Mozarteum Orchester (Salzburg), Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart with whom he has recorded the Rhapsodies and Ouvertures of Dvorak. He conducted the Konzertverein der Wiener Symphoniker, the Orchestra of Teatro Nacional de São Carlos and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and made a Spanish and Russian tour with the Vienna “Johann Strauss” Orchestra in December 2006. In February 2007 he was on the podium of the Mozarteum Orchester conducting Carmen (Salzburger Landestheater). He also conducted the Choir and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Ludwig van Beethoven Association, Warsaw), the Philharmonia Wien (Musikverein, Vienna), the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

His future projects include concerts with Warsaw Philharmonic, Bremer Philharmoniker, Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice, London Philharmonic, Württembergische Philharmonie, Wiener Symphoniker, Polish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Following his great success in Moscow with the Johann Strauss Orchestra in Vienna, he will be back in Russia for a tour which will bring him also in Spain and Japan.

His recordings with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for Australian label ABC-Classics, include Rossini’s Ouvertures, arias of Haydn and Mozart with Sara Macliver and Teddy Tahu Rhodes, a series of portraits of Australian contemporary composers Carl Vine, Elena Katz-Chernin and Brenton Broadstock. He has also collaborated with Harmonia Mundi and Amadeus, and will record for Decca.

September 2008