STEFAN ANTON RECK
Stefan Anton Reck, conductor and painter, was born in Baden-Baden in 1960. After graduating from the "Richard Wagner" Classical High School in Baden-Baden, he continued his studies in Freiburg at the Hochschule für Musik and the Universität Freiburg, where he studied piano alongside philosophy and art history. He later moved to Berlin, earning a degree from the Hochschule der Künste in 1986. In 1985, he won the first Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition in Italy, followed by the First Prize at the Gino Marinuzzi International Competition. In 1987 and 1990, he received a scholarship from the Tanglewood Music Festival, where he studied with Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein. His frequent travels allowed him to visit major contemporary art museums and exhibitions, playing a crucial role in shaping his artistic vision. These experiences led him to develop a distinctive pictorial language and personal artistic style. From 1997 to 2000, he was an assistant to Claudio Abbado, collaborating on the production of Wozzeck at the Salzburg Festival. At Pierre Boulez’s request, he prepared the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester for performances of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Boulez’s Notations, and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle during their summer tours in 1997 and 1998.In 1998, he began conducting Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste. From 1999 to 2003, he served as Music Director of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. In 1999, he conducted the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Verdi’s Falstaff in Ferrara, a production by Claudio Abbado. During the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester’s summer tour, under Abbado’s artistic direction, Reck led a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 in Havana. That same year, he opened the concert season at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo with Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. At the Teatro Massimo, in March 2000, he conducted Schönberg’s Die Erwartung with Anja Silja and Poulenc’s La voix humaine with Raina Kabaivanska. Both performances were recorded live and released by Avidi Lumi/Teatro Massimo, with a cover design by Marco Lodola. That same year, he conducted the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester at the Internationale Musikfestwochen Luzern and led their annual European summer tour, featuring works by Shostakovich, Mahler, Scriabin, and Bartók. In January 2001, he opened the Teatro Massimo’s season with a new production of Berg’s Lulu, later released as a live recording by OehmsClassics. For Arte Nova Classics, he recorded a Wagnerian program featuring Albert Dohmen. In the following months, he made his highly successful debuts with the Orchestre National de France in Paris, as well as with the orchestras of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. In November 2001, he completed the Ring cycle at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste with Götterdämmerung. A particularly significant event was his new production of Schönberg’s Moses und Aron and a commemorative concert marking the fifth anniversary of the reopening of the historic Teatro Massimo. Titled The Memory of the Offense: Dedicated to the Victims of the Holocaust and All Acts of Violence, the program included works such as Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis and Schönberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, featuring actor Harvey Keitel as narrator. He has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras and performed in prestigious opera houses, including the Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper München, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Oper Frankfurt, Oper Leipzig, Semperoper Dresden, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, and Tanglewood Center. He has also collaborated with some of the most renowned set designers and directors, including Wolfgang Wagner, Graham Vick, Yannis Kokkos, David McVicar, and Mario Martone. Internationally recognized as a leading interpreter of Gustav Mahler’s works and the Second Viennese School (Berg, Schönberg, Webern), Stefan Anton Reck is known for his bold artistic choices, musical intensity, and strong affinity for contemporary music—an interest that extends into his extensive body of visual artwork. His painting process, deeply influenced by his conducting, transforms gestures into marks and colors, structured through rhythmic compositions that are instantly perceptible. Only recently has he begun showcasing his visual art alongside his conducting career, with upcoming exhibitions in major galleries and museums in Italy and abroad. His recent exhibition, Painting. Sound, Gesture, Mark (curated by Francesco Gallo and Marcello Palminteri, with catalog texts by Pierre Boulez, Vincenzo De Vivo, and Alan Gilbert), was held at PAN – Palazzo delle Arti Napoli.
