Heinz Wallberg
German conductor Heinz Wallberg was born in Herringen, Westphalia, on 16 March 1923.
He started out as a violinist and trumpeter. During World War II he was a morse code operator, and also led a string quartet and directed an army band. At the age of twenty-nine, he became the youngest ever music director in Germany when he was offered a position in Ausgburg. He had a reputation as a kind and modest man who did not like to be treated as a star.
For almost twenty years, he served as general music director in Essen. He was also very much associated with the Vienna Opera, where Herbert von Karajan invited him in 1959 for the first time, and where he went on to conduct more than four hundred performances. He toured with the Vienna and Bamberg symphony orchestras, and had countless CDs and television productions to his name. He was held in high esteem in concert halls all over the world.
Heinz Wallberg died in Essen on 29 September 2004, aged eighty-one.
A selection of articles about Heinz Wallberg
CD Spotlight. A Kiss from the Queen - Johann Strauss II's only opera, 'Ritter Pásmán', heard by Gerald Fenech. '... vibrantly performed by the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra and finely conducted by Alfred Walter.'
CD Spotlight. A Jewel Box of Opera Rarities - Giuseppe Pennisi explores a CD set marking the Orfeo International label's first forty years. '... at least two masterpieces emerge ...'
CD Spotlight. Astonishing Performances - Early recordings by Nelson Freire impress Gerald Fenech. 'An ideal set for ... all who admire this truly great soloist.'