Franz Bauer-Theussl

This Austrian conductor and pianist was renowned as the foremost ambassador of Viennese music. From 1943 to 1949, he studied at the Vienna Academy of Music excelling in the state piano examinations and winning international prizes in Geneva amd Llangollen. He studied conducting with Clemens Krauss and, as an assistant conductor, toured with the Academy Chamber Choir throughout Europe. He became conductor at the Municipal Theater at Baden bei Wien. From 1953 to 1957, Bauer-Theussl was engaged at the Salzburg Provincial Theatre and was assistant conductor at the Salzburg Festivals working with Krauss, Karl Böhm, Bruno Walter, and Dimitri Mitropoulos. In 1957, he began work at the Vienna Volksoper and since that year has led approximately 2,500 performances, gaining a popular reputation for his interpretations of both opera and operetta. From 1960 and 1964, he functioned as the general director of music in Amsterdam, helped produce numerous works at the Bregenz Festivals, and was a founder of the Mörbisch Lake Festivals. Between 1961 and 1964, he was engaged as the chief conductor of the Vienna Beethoven Association and was also a guest conductor at opera houses in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Ghent, Brussels, London, Tokyo, Osaka, and several other venues. In 1969, Bauer-Theussl received his profesorship. In 1972, he was given the Golden Honour Award for services to the Federal Province of Lower Austria, and in 1974 he earned the Golden Honour Award for services to the Republic of Austria. In 1979, he was given the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Culture, First Class. Bauer-Theussl died in Salzburg on April 30, 2010.