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Gerd Schaller

"MUSIC IS COMPOSED FEELING!

GERD SCHALLER

He is acknowledged as one of the most significant contemporary interpreters of the works of Bruckner. He studied conducting and worked at various German opera houses (State Opera Hanover, principal conductor with the State Theatre in Braunschweig, GMD at the theatre in Magdeburg); since 2006, he has been operating freelance, and is frequently invited to serve as guest conductor by famous orchestras both at home and abroad. 

In 2008 he founded the Philharmonie Festiva, a symphony orchestra comprising selected musicians from top German orchestras, with whom he has been pursuing his own urbane musical projects ever since.

For many years, the music of Anton Bruckner has been at the very heart of Gerd Schaller’s work; the composer’s combination of profound emotionalism and potent complexity has fascinated the conductor since his early youth. That fascination has resulted in Schaller’s large-scale CD album project BRUCKNER2024, which aims to have recorded, by the time of Bruckner’s 200th birthday in 2024, all of the composer’s symphonies in all their versions with his orchestra, the Philharmonie Festiva. The project began with the symphonies – some of them in hitherto unknown versions – that Schaller has already committed to CD with the Philharmonie Festiva for the Profil Günter Hänssler label; a series that has won numerous prizes and awards at home and abroad. One highlight of that first tranche of recordings was undoubtedly Schaller’s completion, based on the composer’s own sketches, of the final movement of the 9th Symphony, released on CD and published in full score version in 2018 

Alongside this Bruckner symphonic cycle Schaller has also recorded a number of Bruckner’s sacred works, such as his Mass in F minor and the 146th Psalm, as well as all of his organ works, played by Schaller himself on a reconstructed and expanded instrument.

In addition to his passion for Bruckner’s works, the conductor shows a pronounced delight in discovering new and unknown repertoire, and has been championing the rehabilitation of forgotten works and rare gems such as Carl Goldmark’s opera Merlin, whose modern-day premiere he conducted and whose score he edited for the Ries & Erler music publishing house. Over and above that, Gerd Schaller has truly made his mark in the world of opera specifically with the works of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Giuseppe Verdi. The wide-ranging spectrum of his achievement encompasses works by rarely played composers, and in the course of his career Gerd Schaller has amassed a vast repertoire for the concert stage ranging from the Baroque to the present day.

The conductor is also Artistic Director of the Ebrach Summer Music Festival, founded by him in 1990, which in recent years has received ever more international critical acclaim precisely on account of Schaller’s enlightened Bruckner readings performed in the ideal acoustic atmosphere of Ebrach Abbey.

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Bruckner24

BRUCKNER2024

BRUCKNER2024 is an ambitious project by Gerd Schaller to record all symphonies of Anton Bruckner in all essential versions, to be completed on CD for the 200th anniversary of the composer.

For more informations:

www.bruckner2024.de

Anton Bruckner's quintet in the version for large orchestra by Gerd Schaller released on CD

Gerd Schaller arranged Anton Bruckner's Quintet for large orchestra and recorded it with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Prague in the broadcasting hall of Radio Prague. The CD has been released by Profil Edition Guenter Haenssler. The CD also features an early work by Anton Bruckner, his Ouverture in G minor.

Order at jpc

18 CDs Boxed set

Anton Bruckner
Complete Symphonies (No. 00-9) 
18 CDs Boxed set 
Mass No. 3 | Psalm 146 | Organ Works

Philharmonie Festiva
Gerd Schaller

 Order at jpc.de

Gerd Schaller's completion of Bruckner's Ninth has been published by Ries & Erler, Berlin

In 2016 conductor Gerd Schaller presented for the first time his completion of the final movement of Anton Bruckner's Ninth Symphony. From the practical experience of the performance, he has revised this first version again and now presents an improved edition released by the music publisher Ries & Erler, founded in 1881 in Berlin.

More at gerd-schaller.com

Double award by the Bruckner Society of America

Gerd Schaller receives the Julio Kilenyi Medal for his merit to the music of Anton Bruckner and the performance and recording of rare variations of the symphonies:

"We salute Maestro Schaller’s interpretation, which is clear-sighted, intelligent, and highly musical. The orchestral performance is very fine, too. All in all, we find this to be a recording of high quality and, as one of the finest recordings of this underappreciated early masterwork, a valuable addition to the discography.Furthermore, this award recognizes the tremendous accomplishment that this recording represents as one of the final pieces in the remarkable cycle of Bruckner recordings led by Maestro Schaller, including rare versions of several symphonies."
Benjamin M. Korstvedt, Board President, Bruckner Society of America

His recording of Bruckner's Study Symphony was awarded as "Best Bruckner Recording of the Year".

More at www.abruckner.com