Fawzi Haimor, Conductor

Fawzi Haimor, conductor Fawzi Haimor is Music Director of the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, an appointment that began in September 2017. He was elected and appointed to the position immediately following his impressive debut with the orchestra in December 2016. Following a critically acclaimed first season together, in 2018/2019 Haimor will conduct the WPR in their home at the Stadthalle Reutlingen, in such German centres as Baden-Baden, Ludwigsburg, Heidelberg and Munich, and on tour in Italy. Fawzi Haimor has worked with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, WDR Funkhausorchester Köln, Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Orquesta Sinfónica do Porto da Música, Oulu Sinfonia and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. In the US, Haimor has conducted orchestras such as The Florida Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony and New Mexico Philharmonic. He also made an acclaimed debut with the Grant Park Symphony in July 2017. Further afield, he has collaborated with Qatar Philharmonic, Kyoto Symphony and touring with New Zealand Symphony, and in May 2018 he made his debut at London’s Barbican Hall, as part of the hall’s Max Richter weekend, conducting the Chineke! Orchestra, who reinvited him to their European tour. Haimor’s broad repertoire includes a focus on works of the late German Romantic period and by 19th and 20th century Russian and American composers, plus he is a committed advocate of contemporary music and has performed premieres by composers such as Mason Bates and Kareem Roustom. In Reutlingen this season, he explores works by Mahler, Zimmermann, Tchaikovsky, Gubaidulina, Ives, Brahms and is working with soloists like Dejan Lazic, Isabelle van Keulen and Noah Bendix-Bagley. Upcoming debut appearances in this season include Odense Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie Zuidnederland and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra. Haimor was born in Chicago in 1983 and educated in the Middle East and in San Francisco. He completed his violin training at the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana University, and studied conducting under David Effron and Arthur Fagen. He earned bachelor’s degrees in both music and neurobiology, a master’s degree in conducting from the University of California-Davis, and second master’s in instrumental conducting at Indiana University. Until 2015, he was Assistant Conductor and Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where he led a variety of concerts including classical, pops and outreach. Whilst in Pittsburgh, he also served as a cover to esteemed conductors including Manfred Honeck, Leonard Slatkin, Gianandrea Noseda, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Yan Pascal Tortelier. Leonard Elschenbroich, cello Described by the New York Times as “a musician of great technical prowess, intellectual curiosity and expressive depth,” cellist Leonard Elschenbroich performs as a soloist with the world’s leading orchestras. He gave his Vienna Musikverein debut on a European Tour with the Staatskapelle Dresden, his US debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, his Asian debut at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and appears regularly at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms. A committed performer of contemporary music, Elschenbroich has commissioned several new works from composers including Mark-Anthony Turnage, Luca Lombardi, Arlene Sierra and Suzanne Farrin. He gave the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s first Cello Concerto – written for him – with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at Bridgewater Hall, and Brian Elias’ first Cello Concerto at the BBC Proms. In 2012 he co-founded the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bolivia, the first orchestra to perform a Mahler Symphony in the nation’s history. Elschenbroich returns to Bolivia on a regular basis to lead educational projects and develop the orchestra. This commitment led Elschenbroich to explore the field of conducting with various orchestras across Latin America and the UK. He gave his London conducting debut, leading The Telegraph to write “Elschenbroich gave a performance of Brahms’ 1st Symphony that at times touched the heights.” Elschenbroich’s first three albums for Onyx Classics focused on 20th century Russian repertoire, from Rachmaninov to Schnittke. 2016 saw the release of “Siécle”, a portrait of a century of French music from Saint-Saëns to Dutilleux, recorded with the BBC Scottish Symphony. They have received 5-star reviews from The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Financial Times, as well as receiving Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. This year, after a decade of worldwide performances together with Alexei Grynyuk, Onyx Classics released their recording of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas. The album received wide critical acclaim, including Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Album of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, and is also available on vinyl. His many awards include the Leonard Bernstein Award, Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk and Borletti Buitoni Trust Award. In 2012 he was named BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, he was Artist-in- Residence of Deutschlandfunk for the 2014-15 season, and Artist-in-Residence at the Philharmonic Society Bremen from 2013-2016. Born in 1985 in Frankfurt, Elschenbroich received a scholarship, aged ten, to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London. He later studied with Frans Helmerson at the Cologne Music Academy. He plays a cello made by Matteo Goffriller “Ex-Leonard Rose-Ex-Alfredo-Piatti”; (Venice, 1693), on private loan. .

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