Austrian conductor Leopold Hager studied conducting, organ, piano, harpsichord and composition at the Mozarteum in his hometown Salzburg. After holding several posts in Mainz, Linz and Cologne, he became General Music Director in Freiburg/Breisgau, then Principal Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, Music Director of the RTL Symphony Orchestra Luxembourg and served as Chief Conductor at the Volksoper in Vienna. Besides his extensive work as a conductor, Leopold Hager was Professor for Orchestra Conducting at the University of Music in Vienna.
As a guest he has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the Viennese Staatsoper and appeared frequently at many of the world's leading opera houses, amongst them the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Semperoper Dresden, Metropolitan Opera New York, Chicago Lyric Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires and Opera Bastille Paris. Major operatic guest engagements of the more recent past include Deutsche Oper Berlin, Leipzig Opera, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Opéra Lyon and Opéra Nice.
On the concert podium, Leopold Hager conducted leading orchestras of the world, including Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberger Symphoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and National Symphony Orchestra Washington. In 2015 he assumed the post of Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música.
Leopold Hager acquired renown as a pioneering advocate of Mozart interpretation, in particular for his Salzburg concert performances of the hitherto virtually unknown early stage works. His recordings of these works with the leading singers of the time still enjoy the status of a reference standard. His extensive discography includes all of Mozart's piano concerts and concert arias.
(photo: Casa da Música / João Messias)
