The Austrian conductor and organist, Leopold Hager, took courses in piano, organ, harpsichord, conducting, and composition at the Salzburg Mozarteum from 1949 to 1957. His principal teachers were Paumgartner, Wimberger, Bresgen, Johann Nepomuk David, and Kornauth.
From 1957 to 1962 Leopold Hager was assistant conductor at the Mainz City Theater. After conducting the Linz Landestheater from 1962 to 1964, he held the post of first conductor of the Cologne Opera from 1964 to 1965. After serving as Generalmusikdirektor in Freiburg im Breisgau from 1965 to 1969), he was chief conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra and of the Landestheater in Salzburg (1969-1981. In October 1976 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in New York conducting W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, and remained on its roster until 1978. He also appeared as a guest conductor with other opera houses as well as orchestras in Europe and the USA. In 1981 he became chief conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Radio- Tele Luxembourg (Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg). |