Leopold Hager

Leopold Hager is an Austrian conductor (born October 6, 1935, Salzburg), known for his interpretations of works from the First Viennese School (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert).

Hager studied piano, organ, harpsichord, conducting, and composition at the Salzburg Mozarteum (1949-1957) with Paumgartner, Wimberger, Bresgen, J.N. David, and Kornauth. He was appointed assistant conductor at the Mainz City Theater (1957-1962) and, after conducting the Linz Landestheater (1962-1964), he was appointed first conductor of the Cologne Opera (1964-1965). He then served as Generalmusikdirektor in Freiburg im Breisgau (1965-1969), chief conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra and of the Landestheater in Salzburg (1969-1981). In October 1976 he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York when conducting Le nozze di Figaro. He also appeared as a guest conductor with other opera houses as well as orchestras in Europe (Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, etc.) and the United States. In 1981, he became music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Radio-Télé-Luxembourg (now the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra), and concluded his tenure there in 1996.

Until 2004, Hager taught Orchestral Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, continuing a direct line of renowned teachers including Clemens Krauss, Hans Swarowsky, and succeeding Karl Österreicher.

From 2005 to 2008, Leopold Hager served as Chief Conductor at the Volksoper in Vienna, conducting their new productions of The Magic Flute, La Traviata, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Les Contes d'Hoffman and Turandot.

A frequent conductor at the Vienna State Opera, Leopold Hager has worked with such orchestras as the Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Vienna Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra , Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de Lille and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.