Wolfgang Sawallisch

German conductor and pianist Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich on 26 August 1923. He studied composition and piano privately, served in the German army during World War II and then continued studying at Munich's music Hochschule.

His career began with a répétiteur job at Augsburg, where he later became principal conductor. He conducted the Berlin Philharmonic when he was only thirty, and was the youngest conductor ever to appear at the Bayreuth Festival. He worked as principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, and was music director at the Bavarian State Opera for more than twenty years.

Towards the end of his career, he was music director of the Philedelphia Orchestra, and appeared annually with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo.

Sawallisch died on 22 February 2013 at home in Grassau, Bavaria, aged eighty-nine.

A selection of articles about Wolfgang Sawallisch

Jerome Rose - In the build-up to New York's International Keyboard Institute and Festival, Richard Meszto writes about the festival's founder

CD Spotlight. Genuine Profundity - Annie Fischer plays Mozart and Bartók, appreciated by Béla Hartmann. 'Her phrasing makes even the most complex and profound passages instantly understandable ...'

DVD Spotlight. Happy Signposts - 'Die Frau ohne Schatten' from the Bavarian State Opera, reviewed by Robert Anderson. 'It is evident that Sawallisch loves the work.'