Weikert, Ralf

views updated

Weikert, Ralf

Weikert, Ralf , Austrian conductor; b. St. Florian, Nov. 10,1940. He studied at the Bruckner Cons, in Linz; then took a course in conducting with Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music. In 1965 he won 1st prize in the Nicolai Malko Conducting Competition in Copenhagen. In 1966 he became conductor of the City Theater in Bonn; then was chief conductor there (1968-77). In 1977 he was appointed deputy Generalmusikdirektor of the Frankfurt am Main Opera; also conducted at the Hamburg State Opera, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, and the Zürich Opera. In 1981 he was named chief conductor of the Salzburg Mozarteum Orch. and music director of the Landestheater in Salzburg. He was music director of the Zürich Opera from 1983 to 1992.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire