Wöss, Kurt

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Wöss, Kurt

Wöss, Kurt, Austrian conductor; b. Linz, May 2, 1914; d. Dresden (while rehearsing the Dresden Phil), Dec. 4, 1987. He studied conducting with Weingartner in Vienna, and also pursued musicological studies at the Univ. of Vienna with Haas, Lach, Orel, and Wellesz; taught an orch. class at the Vienna Academy of Music (1938-10). He conducted the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstler-Orch. in Vienna (1948-51) and the Nippon Phil. in Tokyo (1951-54). From 1956 to 1959 he was principal conductor of the Victoria Sym. Orch. in Melbourne and of the Australian National Opera; in 1961 he returned to Linz, where he was chief conductor of the Bruckner Orch. until 1976; also conducted again in Tokyo. He publ. Ratschläge zur Aufführung der Symphonien Anton Bruckners (Linz, 1974).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire