PRINCIPAL CHIEF AND MUSIC DIRECTOR, THE ORQUESTA FILARMONICA DE GRAN CANARIAS
MUSIC DIRECTOR, REAL ORQUESTA SINFONICA DE SEVILLA
MUSIC DIRECTOR, TEATRO DE LA MAESTRANZA DE SEVILLE
2002/2003 - PRINCIPAL CHIEF, BAYREUTH YOUNG FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
2001/2004 - PRINCIPAL GUEST CONDUCTOR, NUREMBERG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Newly appointed Music Director of the Seville Orchestra in Spain and Music Director of the Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria in Las Palmas, Pedro Halffter is one of Europe’s most dynamic young conductors. His active guest conducting schedule includes appearances with the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich), Beethovenhalle Orchestra (Bonn), Dresden Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Hessischer Rundfunk (Frankfurt), NDR Philharmonic/Hanover, Nuremberg Symphony, Staatsorchester Saarbrücken, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester (Vienna), Filarmonica Hungarica, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre National de Toulouse, Orquesta Filharmonica de Chile, and the principal orchestras of Madrid, Malaga, Granada and Tenerife. Upcoming debuts include the Munich Symphony, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre National de Lille and the RAI Orchestra in Turin.
Also an enthusiastic opera conductor, Mr. Halffter has directed productions of Carmen, Madame Butterfly, Turandot, Faust, Lakmé, Norma, La Voix Humaine, The Cunning Little Vixen, Seven Deadly Sins, The Telephone and La Vida Breve at such theaters as the Teatro Real de Madrid, Liceu de Barcelona, Las Palmas Opera, Sevilla Opera and the Chemnitz and Dresden opera theaters in Germany. He also conducted the world premiere of El Quijote, composed by his father Cristobal Halffter, at the Teatro Real de Madrid, the last operatic work directed by Herbert Wernicke. The production was recorded for Auvidis in July 2003.
A native of Madrid, Pedro Halffter received much of his education in Germany and Austria. After initial studies in piano and cello, he turned his attention to conducting. His teachers include Karl Oestereicher, Bruno Weill, Julius Kalmar, Ferdinand Leitner and Leopold Hager under whom he received his conducting degree from the Hochshule für Musik in Vienna in 1995.
Among Mr. Halffter’s many awards and grants are the Jugend Musiziert Prize, the Young Composers Prize of the Deutsche Musikrat, the Young Conductors Prize of the European Union, grants from the Jeunesses Musicales of Madrid and the Bank of Spain, and a Fullbright prize for composition studies in New York.
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