Alexander Schwinck - Biographie

Maestro Alexander Schwinck has conducted numerous orchestras in many countries.Among the impressive
list of those with which he has worked are: Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Bochum Symphony Orchestra,
Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn, Philharmonic State Orchestra Bremen, State Orchestra Darmstadt,
North German Radio Philharmonic (NDR), North-Western Philharmonic, Radio Orchestra SWF, State
Philharmonic Rhineland-Pfalz, Philharmonia Hungarica, Bavarian Radie Symphony Orchestra, Nürnberg
Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Wiesbaden State Symphony, Innsbruck Symphony
Orchestra, Luxembourg Symphony Orchestra RTL, Antwerp Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Oslo, Orquesta Ciudad de Málaga, Janácek Philharmonic Ostrava, Czech State Philharmonic of Brno, Slovak
Sinfonietta, Slovak State Philharmonic Kosice, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, State Symphony of Mexico,
Presidential Symphony Orchestra Ankara and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Darmstadt Alexander Schwinck began his musical training at the Saarland Music Academy where
he studied cello, piano and conducting. He then became a master student of Franco Ferrara, Hans Swarowsky,
Rafael Kubelik and Kyrill Kondraschin. Under the leadership of Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa he
participated in the conducting course at Tanglewood/USA. Another very important influence was Leonard
Bernstein with whom he has worked together over a period of several years in New York, Amsterdam, Vienna,
Salzburg and Munich. At Bernstein's request, Mr. Schwinck was asked to conduct the Symphony Orchestra
of the Bavarian Radio at the Schleswig-Holstein Music-Festival in 1986.

In 1975 in Siena, Italy, Alexander Schwinck received the DIPLOMA D'ONORE. In 1977 and 1978, he won
the first prize in the GERMAN MUSIC GUILD CONDUCTING COMPETITION and was also honoured with
the MOZART-PRIZE, given by the Mozart-Society in Wiesbaden.

From 1979 to 1983 he was the conductor of the National Theatre in Coburg and of the State Theatre in
Wiesbaden. Among others he has also guest conducted in the opera houses of Düsseldorf, Kiel, Lübeck,
Bielefeld, Dessau, Hagen, Braunschweig and at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice. In 1996 and 1997 he was
the assistant conductor of the Arena-production of Mozart's "The Magicflute" (Christian Boesch, Prof.
Ernst Fuchs, English Chamber Orchestra) in Vienna, Munich, Bremen and Stuttgart. From 1999 to 2002 he was the Principal Conductor of the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony Orchestra and Opera.

Alexander Schwinck has also spent a great deal of time working with young musicians. In this capacity he
has coached and lectured the Young German Philharmonic, while simultaneously, he also assisted Gary
Bertini and Lorin Maazel. He has also worked with a number of German university orchestras. From 1984
until 1986 he was the Music Director at the International Youth Festival in Bayreuth and since 1984 he
has directed numerous tours with the youth orchestras of Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Rhineland-Pfalz.

Known from the beginning of his career as an extraordinary and innovate program builder, Mr. Schwinck
accepted his first permanent post in 1985. From then until 1989 he was the Music Director and Conductor of
the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen and in 1988 and 1989 General Music Director of the State Opera in
Istanbul. In November of 1988 he directed an extensive Japan-tour with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra
(Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya etc.). From 1990 until 1993 Alexander Schwinck was the Music Director and
Conductor of the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra. An extremely successful tour to Spain with this orchestra
in 1990 showered Mr. Schwinck with praises from leading European newspapers. After a very impressive USA-
Debut in 1992 the same group was again invited to Spain (1993, Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid etc.).
In October 1993, they toured in Germany, where the final concert took place in Munich at the famed
International Festival "Europamusicale".

Among others Mr. Schwinck has worked with such fine artists as Pierre Amoyal, Ulf Hoelscher, Vaclav
Hudecek, Isabelle van Keulen, Kyoko Takezawa, Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann, David Geringas,
Maria Kliegel, Daniel Müler-Schott, Truls Mork, Gustav Rivinius, Jan Vogler, Bernd Glemser, Hüseyin Sermet, Kun Woo Paik, Christian Zacharias, Güher and Süher Pekinel and Paul Meyer.

From 1989 until 1993 he was the permanent conductor of Mozart's "Abduction of the Saraglio" at the
International Istanbul Festival (Topkapi-Palace) as well as the conductor of the Festival's opening concerts
with Ahmed Adnan Saygun's "Yunus Emre Oratorio"and Beethoven's Symphony No.9.
Among others he conducted the Turkish premieres of Mahler's Symphony Nos. 2, 3, 6 and 9, Strauss' An Alpine Symphonie (with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra) as well as the Turkish premiere of
Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin" at the State Opera and Ballet Ankara.