Music and Musicians

Dorian Wilson

Born in 1964, Dorian Wilson, one of Leonard Bernstein’s last students, first received international recognition at the 1989 Malko International Conducting Competition, at age 24. As a result he was asked to be the second conductor for the Moscow Philharmonic; an unprecedented appointment in Russia; making Wilson the first american guest conductor in fifteen years and, at 25 years old, the youngest conductor in their history. Later Wilson was to be the first guest conductor of the Russian National Orchestra. He continues his close associations in Russia, especially with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic where he frequently conducts. In recognition of his work over the years, Dorian Wilson has been given the title Permanent Guest Conductor of the St. Petersburg Symphony. He has performed in the great halls of Paris, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam, Florence, Seoul, and St. Petersburg. From 2004 until 2007 Wilson was Principal Guest Conductor, then Music Director of the Belgrade Philharmonic, including a tour of Scandinavia in 2006. In October 2006 Wilson conducted a 9 concert tour of Spain with the Berliner Symphoniker.
Between 1998 and 2003 Wilson was Music Director of Theater Vorpommern, Germany (Budget €19 million. 330 staff including 210 under Wilson’s responsibility; orchestra, soloists, choirs, ensemble, ballet and all directors of said ensembles). In his tenure there he conducted over 50 productions in more than 300 performances. A solid repertoire was grounded with many of the standard operas and ballets, as well as new and seldom-heard works. Other opera performances include the highly acclaimed production of Mozart’s “Cosí fan Tutte at the Grand Theatre de Bordeaux, for the Deutsche Oper Berlin production of Mozart’s “Nozze di Figaro” and continues his work in Berlin with Bizet’s “Carmen”, Puccini’s “Turandot” and Verdi’s “La Traviata” at Komische Oper Berlin. Wilson made his Royal Swedish Opera debut with “Nozze di Figaro” and conducted the production of “Lohengrin” at the Deutsches National Theater Weimar, where he was immediately asked to conduct the new production of “La Boheme”.
As recognized by the International Federation of Music Competitions, Wilson has won more International prizes for conducting than any other conductor. Since 1989 Wilson has won an additional 8 prizes in every conducting competition he has entered, virtually every one of the world’s major competitions: Dimtri Mitropoulos; Athens, 1996, Kiril Kondrashin; Amsterdam, 1994, Tokyo International; Tokyo, 1994, Antonio Pedrotti; Italy, 1991, Arturo Toscanini; Italy, 1990, 1992, Nicolai Malko; Copenhagen, 1989, 1996 and Jean Sibelius; Helsinki, 1995.
Always wanting to bring out the less-known masterworks, Dorian Wilson premiered many works unknown to the East German audience, including the works of Ginastera, Copland, Martinu, Piazolla, C. Koechlin, Britten, Respighi and de Falla. He also had the privilege of conducting the German premiere of Jean Sibelius’ complete penultimate opus “The Tempest” as well as the Danish premiere of Debussy’s „Pelléas et Mélisande“ Symphony (M. Constant) as well as the Scandinavian premier of Samuel Barber’s “Toccata Festiva for Organ and Orchestra”. In 2005 he conducted the premiere Russian performance of Schmitt “Salome” with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
Wilson has collaborated with some of the most distinguished soloists. While conducting the “Winner’s Concert” with the Helsinki Philharmonic (after the Sibelius Competition) he had the honor of performing what was to be Sura Cherkarsky’s last orchestra engagement before his death. He has performed with M. Rostropovich in Germany and Italy and was the featured conductor in a BBC film working with Yo-Yo Ma entitled “A Month at Tanglewood”. Other soloists include: Thomas Zehetmair, Vladmir Viardo, Barry Douglas, Boris Berezovsky, Nelson Freire and Nabuko Imai.
Live television broadcasts include Danish National Radio Orchestra (in the presence of Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of Denmark); Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam); Russian National Orchestra (Bolshoi Hall, Moscow); Finnish Radio Orchestra (Finlandia Hall); and a documentary of a concert tour of Norway. Numerous radio programs have also been broadcast. He has also performed in the presence of the King and Queen of Spain, the King and Queen of Sweden, the Crown Prince of Serbia as well as the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
Wilson’s Conservatory studies are in piano, viola, composition, art history, and conducting; from Oberlin Conservatory (Piano and Art History), Indiana University (Piano and Viola), the University of Michigan (Orchestral Conducting and Opera Coaching), and the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna (Conducting). His teachers include Gustav Meier, Dmitri Kitaenko, Rudolph Barshai, Jorma Panula and Leonard Bernstein.