Omer Meir Wellber appointed General Music Director in Hamburg

The 41-year-old Israeli conductor succeeds Kent Nagano in the role

Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber was recently named as the new General Music Director for both the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg and the Chief Conductor of the Hamburg State Opera. H

Born in Be'er Sheva in 1981, Omer Meir Wellber is presently the Music Director of the Volksoper Wien, Music Director of the Teatro Massimo Palermo, and Artistic Director of the Toscanini Festival.

A former student at the Jerusalem Music Academy, he has also served as Artistic Director of the Raanana Symphonette in his native Israel. He was the Principal Guest Conductor of the Semperoper Dresden from 2018 to 2022 and Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic until 2022.

From 2008 and 2010, he was assistant to Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera and La Scala in Milan.

Wellmer regularly appears as a guest conductor with orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

"I'm really looking forward to working in Hamburg, a music location that is not only committed to tradition, but above all to the avant-garde," Wellber said. "For me, this is an incentive, a challenge and an inspiration in equal measure."

"Hamburg is a city where groundbreaking music was composed and music history was written," he continued. "When you experience Hamburg, you can feel this musical tradition, shaped by Telemann, Mendelssohn, Mahler and Brahms."

"I am particularly looking forward to the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, an orchestra of the highest caliber, whose musicians have demonstrated over many years under very different conductors the enthusiasm with which they are always willing to embark on new and unconventional paths."