Wilson Hermanto, conductor
The American conductor Wilson Hermanto is emerging rapidly on the international scene through his recent successful appearances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris on tour in Japan which resulted in immediate re-invitation for concerts in Paris, the English Chamber Orchestra on tour in France and with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra on tour in the USA with the pianist Lang Lang as the soloist. Mr. Hermanto was hailed for his probing interpretation of Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1 in his recent performance celebrating the composer’s 150th anniversary in the Suisse Romande under the patronage of the eminent Mahlerian, Prof. Henry-Louis de la Grange.
In recent seasons, Wilson Hermanto has worked with, among others, the Cleveland Orchestra, the NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, the Orchestre de l’Opera National de Lorraine, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Florida Orchestra, the Brandenburgische Staatsorchester Frankfurt, the Sinfonietta de Lausanne and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (with which he made a highly praised performance of the Verdi Requiem in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory).
Forthcoming projects will take Mr. Hermanto to work with various international orchestras such as the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestre National d’Ile de France, the Orchestre de Bretagne, return engagement with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and a production of Offenbach Orphée aux enfers in Geneva.
Wilson Hermanto began his musical training as a violinist, obtaining his performance degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, before going on to study conducting with Sixten Ehrling at the Manhattan School of Music in New York and at the same time was also one of the last pupils of Carlo Maria Giulini at the Scuola Musica di Fiesole. During his time in New York from 1996 – 2002, he was a founding member and Music Director of the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra with which he performed extensively not only the classical and romantic repertoire, but also explored the great twentieth century composers. In 1999 Mr. Hermanto began a three-year tenure as the Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation (YMF) Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles with which he made his opera debut conducting Humperdinck’s Haensel und Gretel and performed several important world premieres by emerging young American composers supported by the BMI Foundation. His deep commitment to the contemporary composers brought Mr. Hermanto to the attention of Pierre Boulez who invited him to work with the Maestro at the Lucerne Festival Academy. Between 2002 and 2004, Wilson Hermanto was the Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst and then worked in the same capacity with Christoph Eschenbach between 2004 and 2007 at various orchestras.