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Karoline Jacobkj@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-221
Elia Merguetel@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-225
General Management
Just before Bas Wiegers conducted his first concerts in front of a live audience in May, he sat down for an interview to reflect on the preceding Corona year.
“Now” is always different, fluid, says conductor Bas Wiegers in his essay about diversity, change, and the power of live performances.
Michael Hersch, Medea
Bas Wiegers, conductor
Sarah Maria Sun, soprano
KlangForum Heidelberg, a capella ensemble
Ensemble Musikfabrik
Age Veeroos, ich sehe Federn wachsen im Sand der Wüsten
Valery Voronov, Gigantomania for Tamtam solo
Alexey Sysoev, Col Pugno
Jamilia Jazylbekova, Les illusions de l‘âme
Alexander Khubeev, The Codex of Thoughtcrimes
Klangforum Wien
Cantando Admont, vocal ensemble
Björn Wilker, drums
Sunghyun Lee, Suite geometrica
Antti Auvinen, Flute Concerto
Mikel Urquiza, Oiseaux gazouillants et hibou qui se retourne
Hans Abrahamsen, Concerto for solo piano and ensemble
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra
Mei Yi Foo, piano
Bjørnar Habbestad, composition
Heinrich I.F. Biber, La Battalia
Joseph Haydn, Symphony no.60 “Il Distratto”
Vito Žuraj, Ubuquity
Ondrej Adamek, Nôise
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano / coloratura soprano
Grażyna Bacewicz, Concerto for strings
Grażyna Bacewicz, Quartett für 4 Violinen
Grażyna Bacewicz, Music for strings, trumpets and percussion
Münchener Kammerorchester
Leo Smit, Silhouetten
Maurice Ravel, Scheherazade
Theo Loevendie, Six Turkish Folk Poems
Maurice Ravel, Ma Mère l'Oye
Polly Leech, mezzo-soprano
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Theo Loevendie, Flexio
The "now" is always different, always in flux – Bas Wiegers
With rousing energy and great openness, Bas Wiegers is at the cutting edge of conducting. A guest of European symphony orchestras, soloist ensembles, and opera houses, he masterfully spans the spectrum from Baroque to the music of today.
In the 2022/23 season, Bas Wiegers will begin his role as associated conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra and will bring to life this diversity of musical periods that is so important to him. At the Bern Opera he will conduct a world premiere by Georg Friedrich Haas for the opening of the season, he will be a guest at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl with Klangforum Wien for an opera project directed by Jan Lauwers, and he will return to the podium of the SWR Symphony Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
In his homeland of the Netherlands, Bas Wiegers has worked with ensembles including the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and, together with Peter Eötvös, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In addition, he has made guest appearances with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Britten Sinfonia, Ensemble Modern and the SWR Vokalensemble. With the Klangforum Wien, of which he was principal guest conductor until summer 2022, a new project with Thomas Hampson on songs by Mahler and Ives recently premiered under his direction.
With open arms previous partners gladly invite Bas Wiegers to return. He has conducted several times at the Cologne Opera, the Opéra national de Lorraine (Britten, Mozart), the Klagenfurt Theater (Haas, Sciarrino), and is present at festivals such as November Music, Holland Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Prague Spring Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Music Festival, Ruhrtriennale, and Acht Brücken in Cologne.
Bas Wiegers is a treasured musical partner for composers such as Georges Aperghis, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Rebecca Saunders.
Following his musical education in Amsterdam and Freiburg, Bas Wiegers began a successful career as a violinist with an emphasis on early music. In 2009 he was awarded a conducting scholarship from the Kersjes Foundation, and later worked as an assistant to Mariss Jansons and Susanna Mälkki at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, an experience which convinced him to focus entirely on conducting.
2022/23 season
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“Bas Wiegers on the podium with dancelike ease in front of the WDR Symphony Orchestra. (...) One rarely hears new music so entertaining, so beautiful.”
nmz, Georg Beck, Juni 2022 – on Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik
Bas Wiegers and the orchestra had good fun with the constant alternation between rebellion and complaisance in Beethoven's so effervescently lively Seventh (...). The Presto had the right drive from the start, after the maestro smoothly performed a little dance gesture before giving the first cue. In the end, at any rate, one could no longer escape the pull of the finale with its intoxicating swirls and tempi.
Helmut Peters, Hamburger Abendblatt, 25/04/2022
“Under the multi-layered direction of Dutch conductor Bas Wiegers, at the helm of a supple and acoustically flattering Orchestre de l'Opéra de Lorraine and a chorus with beautiful cohesion, the performance is captivating thanks to the principal roles.”
Bruno Serrou, la-croix.com, 20/12/2021
“Looking at conductor Bas Wiegers from a podium seat in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, one sees nothing superfluous. With a neutral gaze and efficient gestures, he leads the Radiophilharmonie remarkably smoothly through Sergei Prokofiev's rather complex, rarely performed Sixth Symphony. Musician among musicians: this attitude brings Wiegers increasing success.”
Guido van Oorschot, volkskrant.nl, 11/1/2021
After the intermission, the orchestra played works by Messiaen and Ravel (...). Conductor Bas Wiegers, who had stepped in at the last minute for the ill Ryan Wigglesworth, left an excellent impression and rightly received applause from the orchestra, which played superbly under his direction.
nrc.nl. 01/12/2019
“The hero of the day, by the way, was Bas Wiegers. As a stand-in conductor, he had one week to master four scores. A daring feat – and then to also deliver such gently swinging, constantly changing colours of Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales.”
Guido van Oorschot, volkskrant.nl, 01/12/2019
“Following the intermission, Wiegers‘ mastery revealed itself in Chronochromie. His tempos were swift, consistently drawing out brilliantly virtuoso playing from the phenomenal drummers. This was also true of the strings solo in the sixth movement, Épôde. Here, Wiegers maintained the harmony of the whole while highlighting with his baton the distinct motifs and individual voices mimicking birdsong.”
Michael Klier, bachtrack.com, 02/12/2019
“What’s truly amazing is the music. After the premiere, Haas could only kneel down to thank Bas Wiegers, in leading the orchestra, for such a remarkable performance. Given that there was no light to lead him through the trenches, the conductor had to rely on his own mental powers of transmission.”
Michael Cerha, The Standard, 30/03/2019
“Andriessen's music was played by the Dutch Asko|Schönberg ensemble and conductor Bas Wiegers with incredible precision and virtuosity.“
Kölner Stadtanzeiger
Bas Wiegers und das MKO
J. Haydn: Sinfonie Nr. 38 C-Dur Hob. I 38 „Echo"
Igor Stravinsky: Firebird (“L’oiseau de feu”) | Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Bas Wiegers conducts the SWR Symphony Orchestra
A. Berg: Violinkonzert | Isobel Warmelink | Residentie Orkest
G. Aperghis: Die Hamletmaschine | SWR Vokalensemble, Asko|Schönberg
S. Hilli: Bird | Asko|Schönberg
A. Schönberg: Nuits transfigurées | l'Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Lorraine
Click here for the live radio recording.