Biography

Wilson Hermanto, conductor

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Praised for his deep musicianship, natural authority, exuberant energy and elegance, Wilson Hermanto is the Principal Guest Conductor of the chamber orchestra Cameristi della Scala since 2017. In 2023-24 season Mr. Hermanto makes a welcome return to the prestigious Enescu Festival with the Cameristi della Scala and also takes the orchestra to France and Switzerland with soloists Francesco Piemontesi, Daniel Müller-Schott, Pierre Génisson, Daniel Ciobanu. The current season also sees Mr. Hermanto making return engagements with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra to close the 2023 Warsaw Autumn Festival, the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra in Wrocław and working for the first time with the great tenor Juan Diego Flórez. Together with Daniel Müller-Schott, Wilson Hermanto is the Co-Artistic Director of the Vevey Spring Classic music festival in Switzerland since 2022.

As a guest conductor, in the recent past Mr. Hermanto conducted Leonard Bernstein “Candide” with the Baltic Opera in Poland and worked with the Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre national de Metz, George Enescu Philharmonic, Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg, Argovia Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile, Mariinsky Orchestra, Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, Orchestra of Accademia del Teatro alla Scala and Schweizer Jugend Sinfonie Orchester. With the Cameristi della Scala, in addition to performances in Italy that include the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Mr. Hermanto and the orchestra has performed in Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey. Their CD album consisting of Beethoven Symphony No. 2 and Mozart “Haffner” Symphony will be released in Autumn 2024 under Claves Records.

Wilson Hermanto performs regularly in France where he conducted various important French orchestras such as Orchestre national de Lyon, Orchestre philharmonique de radio France, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Orchestre national d’Île de France, Orchestre national de Bretagne, etc. Around the globe Mr. Hermanto has worked with the Cleveland Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Prague Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, Ulster Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de chambre de Genève, Ensemble Contrechamps, etc.

With a large repertoire encompassing the Baroque period until the music of our time, Wilson Hermanto conducted and worked with many renowned contemporary composers such as Zygmunt Krauze, Bruno Mantovani, Jörg Widmann, Agata Zubel, Thuridur Jónsdóttir, Helmut Lachenmann, Giovanni Sollima, Magdalena Długosz, H.K Gruber, Matteo Franceschini, Enno Poppe, Teoniki Rożynek, Wojciech Błazejczyk and Lowell Liebermann. Various soloists with whom Mr. Hermanto has worked together include Maxim Vengerov, Lang Lang, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott, David Fray, Till Fellner, Alexei Volodin, Alina Pogostkina, Carolin Widmann, Nils Mönkemeyer, Kian Soltani, Richard Galliano, Radek Baborák and the Trio Wanderer.

Born in Indonesia of Chinese descent and a long time Swiss resident, Wilson Hermanto graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music majoring in violin and obtained the conducting degree from the Manhattan School of Music studying with the late Swedish Maestro, Sixten Ehrling. Sir Colin Davis became a close mentor who took personal interest in shaping Mr. Hermanto’s conducting skills. Mr. Hermanto also studied conducting with Carlo Maria Giulini at Scuola Musica di Fiesole in Italy and was a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center working with Seiji Ozawa and a Conducting Fellow at the Lucerne Festival Academy under the tutelage of Pierre Boulez.

Updated: January 2024