Début at the
Vienna State Opera
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
(27th September 1991)

MICHAEL HALÁSZ comes from Hungary and began his career as Principal Bassoon of the Hungarian Philharmonia. His first conducting engagement was at the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich. In 1975 he became Principal Staff Conductor at the Frankfurt Opera and whilst there he conducted mostly Mozart, Strauss, Puccini and Verdi. In 1977 Christoph von Dohnányi appointed him Principal Staff Conductor at the Hamburg State Opera. From 1978 to 1991 he was Music Director at the Theater Hagen, while at the same time a guest conductor in the opera houses of Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich, Amsterdam, Ličge, Turin and Zurich. As an orchestral conductor he has worked with symphony orchestras in Germany, Austria, Holland, France, Great Britain, Israel and Australia. He conducted his first opera at the Vienna State Opera in September 1991; a performance of The Magic Flute. Other performances followed; amongst them La Bohčme, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Don Carlo, Die Fledermaus, The Flying Dutchman, Macbeth, Le nozze di Figaro, Salome, Tosca, La traviata, Il trovatore, Jérusalem, Mefistofele, Otello, Peter Grimes, Stiffelio, Billy Budd and I vespri sicilliani.