Around the Music Festival

Teatro Massimo of Italy has decided to welcome Omer Meir Wellber, a conductor from Israel, as music director since 2020. Velber was 36 years old, born in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel in 1981. He Studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music etc, and started acting as a conductor of Ra’anana Symphonette Orchestra, Israel Opera. Afterwards, he conducted the opera house, orchestra in various places. He was the music director of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia of Valencia, Spain in 2011-2014. From 2018-2019 season he will be appointed Principal guest conductor of the Saxon State Opera in Dresden. Also, in October, it is decided to debut at New York ‘s Metropolitan Opera in Bizet’s opera “Carmen”. To Japan, he debuted in 2010 with the “Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto” at Richard Strauss’s opera “Salome”.

Teatro Massimo is an opera house in Palermo, the capital city of Sicily, in southern Italy. In 1897, the Verdi opera “Falstaff” was performed. While the number of seats is slightly less than 1,400, the building is known as the third largest opera house in Europe, following the Vienna State Opera, Garnier Palace in Paris. However, due to the fact that the mafia intervened in the major restoration that began in 1974, the construction was discontinued, and it was left closed for 23 years. It is famous that theaters were used to film the movie “Godfather Part 3” while closing. The reopening place was realized in 1997 which is the 100th anniversary of opening. The concert commemorating the restart place was performed by Palermo born composer Franco Mannino and Claudio Abbado conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker. Also, in 2007 the theater is doing the first Japanese tour.

Photo：Wilfried-Hösl / IMG Artists