KÖLN, GERMANY — SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 | For his debut as Chief Conductor, Cristian Măcelaru chose alongside Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 the contrasting “Te Deum” composed by the Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák in 1892 on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America.

Cristian Măcelaru takes on the new position at WDR, one of Europe’s leading radio orchestras, effective with the 2019/20 season.

Born in 1980 in Timișoara (Romania), Cristian Măcelaru began his musical career as a violinist. Within a short time, his career as a conductor has developed rapidly, and he has made a name for himself among the major American and European orchestras. Since 2017 he has been artistic director of the Cabrillo Festival, one of the most important festivals for contemporary music.

He passionately devotes himself to teaching music to a broad audience and is open to innovative concert forms and digital music projects. It is important for him to find a way to communicate with the audience:

“When music awakens emotions and the audience reflects them, something bigger always comes up.”

In his new video series “Short and Classical with Cristian Măcelaru”, he presents works from his concert programs with the WDR Symphony Orchestra. Introduction video to Dvořák’s “Te Deum” will be the prelude, it will be available from the beginning of September on the homepage of the WDR Symphony Orchestra and on the Youtube channel WDR Klassik.

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