Franz Welser-Möst

Franz Welser-Möst is one of those rare superstar musicians: he has been successful as a conductor from his mid-twenties, landing a major post at 29 (principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra); he has generated much controversy over personnel issues and other management matters, and has both enraged and assuaged critics; and he has reached the pinnacle of success in both the concert and operatic worlds, an achievement to rival that of any conductor of his generation. Welser-Möst is the long-time music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, leading that group on a recording of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in 2023. That year Welser-Möst also led the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's annual New Year's Concert for the third time. Franz Möst was born in Linz, Austria, on August 16, 1960. He was raised in the Austrian city of Wels and later took the double surname of Welser-Möst to honor his adopted hometown. He studied violin and piano and later enrolled at the Linz Music School. Nerve damage to his left hand from an auto accident caused him to abandon playing either instrument and opt for conducting. He studied under Balduin Sulzer and later studied at the Musikhochschule in Munich from 1980 to 1984. Welser-Möst debuted at the 1985 Salzburg Festival and was appointed principal conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in 1986. That was also the same year he debuted with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Three years later, he began a stormy tenure with that ensemble, departing in 1996; Welser-Möst and the London Philharmonic earned a Gramophone Award for their recording of Franz Schmidt's Symphony No. 4. Welser-Möst served as the music director of the Zurich Opera House from 1995 to 2000 and later general music director from 2005 to 2008. Since 2002, he has served as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra. In 2007, Welser-Möst led the Cleveland Orchestra on their first recording together with a reading of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 on the Deutsche Grammophon label. He was also the music director of the Vienna State Opera from 2010 to 2014. While his repertory in both the concert and operatic spheres is broad, Welser-Möst has paid particular attention to the music of Mozart (operas, sacred music, and instrumental works) and Bruckner (symphonies and sacred works). That said, he has led performances of a varied range of compositions, from Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schumann to Duparc, Lehár, and Orff, and on to Stravinsky, Schreker, and John Williams. Welser-Möst has continued a rigorous recording and performance schedule into the 2020s decade, issuing several releases each year, including A New Century with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2020. In 2023, he returned to Vienna to lead the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert for the third time, with a recording appearing shortly afterward. That year, he also led the Cleveland Orchestra in a recording of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5. ~ Robert Cummings & Keith Finke, Rovi