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Karoline Jacobkj@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594-221
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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.
Béla Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra Sz 116, BB 123
Johannes Brahms, Piano Concerto No. 2 B-flat major, Op. 83
Bas Wiegers, conductor
Phion. Orkest van Gelderland & Overijssel
Nathalia Milstein, piano
Minnaar Hannes, piano
Henriëtte Bosmans, Concertino voor piano en orkest
Witold Lutosławski, Kleine Suite
Kaija Saariaho, Graal théâtre
Kaija Saariaho, Verblendungen
Claude Debussy, La Mer
Carolin Widmann, violin
SWR Symphonieorchester
Johannes Maria Staud, Stachel. Rhapsodie für Streichorchester
Benjamin Britten, Serenade für Tenor, Horn und Streicher op.31
Mirela Ivičević, Auftrag Musica femina MUC
Arnold Schönberg, Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4
Münchener Kammerorchester
Johannes Maria Staud, composition
Julian Prégardien, tenor
Franz Draxinger, horn
Manfred Trojahn, Libera me
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No.25 in G Minor, K.183
Milica Djordjević, Neues Werk für Ensemble
Pierre Boulez, Domaines
Elliott Carter, Double concerto
Ensemble Musikfabrik
Milica Djordjević, composition
Michael Jarrell, Cassandre
Dagmar Manzel, singing
Ensemble Modern
The “Now” is always different, always in flux – Bas Wiegers
With captivating energy and remarkable openness, Bas Wiegers is always at the cutting edge as a conductor. A guest of European symphony orchestras, soloist ensembles, and opera houses, he masterfully spans the spectrum from Baroque to the music of today.
This programmatic range is also expressed in his successful work as associated conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra – in their third joint season, 2024/25, they are not only regularly performing in Munich, but can also be seen at the Now! Festival Essen and the Mozartfest Würzburg.
With open arms previous partners gladly ask Bas Wiegers to return. In 2024/25, he is invited again by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the city of Amsterdam, the SWR Symphonieorchester, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. On the rostrum of the Klangforum Wien, of which he was principal guest conductor until 2022, he gives his debut at the Salzburg Festival 2024 for a concert performance of Georg Friedrich Haas’ KOMA. With Ensemble Modern he appears at the Venice Biennale for the first time. On the occasion of Pierre Boulez’ anniversary in 2025, Bas Wiegers conducts his work Répons on a tour with the Asko Schönberg Ensemble.
In his homeland of the Netherlands, Bas Wiegers has worked with all major orchestras. In addition, he has been a guest with the Belgian National Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, and Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Ensemble Resonanz, Britten Sinfonia and SWR Vokalensemble. He has conducted at the Cologne Opera, Opéra national de Lorraine (Britten, Mozart), Theatre Bern, the Klagenfurt Theater (Haas, Sciarrino), Festspielhaus Erl, and appeared at festivals including Musikfest Berlin, Wiener Festwochen, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Aldeburgh Music Festival, Avanti! Summer Sounds, Prague Spring and Ruhrtriennale.
Bas Wiegers is a treasured musical partner for composers such as Georges Aperghis, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Rebecca Saunders.
With his podcast The Treasure Hunt, Bas Wiegers regularly dives deep into the realm of scores and gives his listeners a very personal insight into his working process as a conductor. He is also involved in promoting young talent as a board member of the Kersjes Foundation and guest professor of conducting at the Amsterdam Conservatory.
2024/25 season
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G. Rossini: Ouverture La gazza ladra
L. van Beethoven: Concerto for Violin
I. Stravinsky: Pétrouchka
L. van Beethoven: Ouverture Coriolan
I. Stravinsky: Violin Concerto
F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 3
H. Birtwistle: Bach Measures
B. Britten: Les Illuminations
B. Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
A. Webern: Passacaglia
D. Milhaud: La Création du Monde
G. Mahler: Symphony No. 4
G. Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite
T. Keuris: Michelangelo Songs
L. van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
F. Poulenc: La Voix Humaine
K. Weill: Symphony No. 2
“You don’t hear Haydn like this every day. The Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO) and Bas Wiegers performed Haydn’s last symphony, No. 104, not as a warm-up piece, but as a highlight. (…) The conductor and orchestra let Haydn’s motivic work bubble, setting the scene with finesse and dynamic sophistication. The homogeneously articulating strings were almost driven into drama by the winds and timpani in the Andante, which constantly surprised with new twists and turns, before the oboe led the trio in the hearty minuet. Vibrancy, rhythmic pulsation, folk-song-like qualities, all delicately seasoned, made the finale a pre-Christmas gift.”
Gabriele Luster, Münchner Merkur, 16/12/2023
“Wiegers accentuated subtlety and spirit, profundity and temperament, in short: Haydn’s greatness.“
Robert Braunmüller, Abendzeitung München, 16/12/2023
"Conductor Bas Wiegers once again demonstrated his impeccable sense of excellent timing and the creation of a vivid soundsphere.
bachtrack.com, Michael Klier, 29 October 2023 – on the NTR-Zaterdagmatinee with Asko | Schönberg and Pierre Laurent Aimard, Concertgebouw Amsterdam
“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, June 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
Bas Wiegers conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: Maurice Ravel - Shéhérazade, Ravel - Ma mère l’oye and works by Leo Smit and Theo Loevendie
Click here to listen to the radio broadcast of Bas Wiegers' debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
A. Schönberg: Nuits transfigurées | l'Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Lorraine
Click here for the live radio recording.