Who was Stefan Soltesz? Austrian conductor collapses and dies during performance

Austrian conductor Stefan Soltesz collapsed and died on Friday, July 22, while performing at Munich’s National Theater. The news was confirmed by the Bavarian State Opera, which stated:

“It is with horror and great sadness that the Bavarian State Opera had to announce the death of Stefan Soltesz. He died tonight after collapsing while conducting ‘Die Schweigsame Frau’ at the Nationaltheater. Our thoughts are with his wife Michaela.”

General Director Serge Dorny expressed his grief on Twitter and wrote:

“I am deeply saddened by the news of the collapse and death of Stefan Soltesz. We are losing a gifted conductor.”

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Everything known about Stefan Soltesz and his career

Stefan Soltesz was a conductor of Hungarian origin (Image via GoldenSeals/Twitter)

Born on January 6, 1949, Soltesz trained in piano when he was only four years old. He came to Vienna in 1956 and became a member of the Wiener Sangerknaben when he was only ten.

He then studied piano alongside conducting and composing with Hans Swarosky at the Wiener Musikakademie when he was 14 years old. He started his career at the Theater an der Wien in 1971 as Kapellmeister. Furthermore, he took on the role of repetiteur and conductor at the Vienna State Opera from 1973 to 1983.

Soltesz was a guest conductor at the Graz Opera from 1979 to 1981, and at the Salzburg Festival in 1978, 1979, and 1983. He then worked as a musical assistant to Karl Bohm, Christoph von Dohnanyi, and Herbert von Karajan.

Stefan was also a conductor at the Hamburg State Opera from 1983 to 1985, and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1985 to 1997. He worked at the Staatstheater Braunschweig as the general music director from 1988 to 1993. Additionally, he was the chief conductor at the Flemish Opera from 1992 to 1997.

Soltesz was the artistic director and GMD of the Aalto-Theater in Essen from 1997. He also served as a guest conductor at European opera houses like the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, the Oper Frankfurt, the Budapest State Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and more.

Stefan made guest appearances at the Paris Opera, Zurich Opera House, Teatro Massimo Bellini, Bilbao Opera, Royal Opera House, Het Muziektheater, Teatro Colon, and San Francisco Opera. He organized various festivals like Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Baden-Baden Pfingstfestspiele, Anima Mundi, Tongyeong Festival, and more.

Soltesz conducted recordings of excerpts from Puccini’s La Boheme, Giuseppe Gazzaniga’s Don Giovanni, Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Der Kreidekreis, and others. He also recorded Alban Berg’s Lulu Suite in 2010 and Hans Werner Henze’s Apassionatamente plus with Essen Philharmonic and soprano Julia Bauer. The album was later nominated for a Grammy and at the ICMA Awards.

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Further details about his death are not publicly available yet.