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The German conductor, Klaus Donath, began his conducting career at Hannover's Niedersachsisches Staatstheater, also assisting both Wolfgang Sawallisch and Karl Boehin at the Salzburg Festival. He was subsequently named Principal Conductor at the Staatstheater Darmstadt and Professor of Music at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theater.
Klaus Donath enjoys a distinguished reputation for his extraordinary rapport with both vocalists and instrumentalists. He is Permanent Guest Conductor of Romania's Banatul Philharmonic, and was previously the much-acclaimed Music Director of England's Bath City Orchestra (1991-1997) and Bath & Wessex Opera (1991-1995), earning particular praise for his interpretations of La Boheme, Dido and Aeneas, La Traviata and Don Giovanni.
Widely regarded as a Mozartean of the highest order, Klaus Donath was first welcomed in North America for his sensational Don Giovanni with Opera Pacific, the Dayton Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre, which led to reinvitations for Opera Pacific's Le Nozze di Figaro, Magic Flute and Don Giovanni, as well as Michigan Opera Theatre's Nozze, Magic Flute and Der Rosenkavalier. Other North American engagements include the Pacific Symphony Orchestra (three guest-conducting appearances), Portland Opera (Der Rosenkavalier), Opera Colorado (Der fliegende Hollander), the Florida Grand Opera (La Traviata and Cosi fan tutte), San Francisco Symphony Orchestra ("Night in Old Vienna" concerts with tenor Jerry Hadley), and recitals with his wife, the soprano Helen Donath, in Miami, New York, Washington, Louisville and at the San Diego Opera. In addition he made both his Seattle and Cincinnati Opera debuts with Don Giovanni and recently led a concert in Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center with members of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Recent European highlights include Die Schopfimg and Mendelssohn's Lobgesang Symphony in Hamburg, Die Lustige Witwe in Cologne, and concerts in Leipzig, Chemnitz and Berlin. European festival invitations include Bratislava, Herrenhausen, Hohenems, Ludwigsburg, Munich, Prague, Schleswig-Holstein, Schwetzingen and Urach. |
