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Haydn above all
March 18, 2014

Haaretz
HAGAI HITRON

[…] the orchestra and its conductor Omer Meir Wellber deserve to be heartily congratulated.
How the symphony was performed: it was classic Haydn with the supple, pleasant sound of strings, simple yet full of substance, and when the brass joined them, the result was perfect enjoyment. Sensory delight and amazement were combined. Conductor Wellber’s pledge to coax wonders from the symphony’s third movement – which occasionally seems a little mundane after the second movement which amazes due to its simplicity – was also wholly fulfilled.

Intermezzo at the Philharmonic
March 18, 2014

Megafon
ORNA LANGER

Wellber’s ability to maintain full control of the orchestra was astounding, as he whipped up a light and airy Viennese atmosphere. Haydn’s Symphony No. 103 (“The Drumroll”) is written in the same key – E-flat major – that typifies a light Viennese dance. Yet its opening has a muted depth with cellos and deep brass instruments, and then takes a dramatic turn with the sudden drumroll.
Haydn’s playful, spirited style, and especially the profuse bowing etiquette of the Viennese minuet, which invites the guests to a palace ball, contrasts with the tension built by the conductor during the slow movement. The entire wind section, the clarinets and bassoons, played with sparkle while the conductor strictly maintained the contrasts in the dynamics and slower sections that helped to highlight the conclusion, which was played with blazing accelerando (an increase in tempo that occurs simultaneously with an increase in pitch). The orchestra responded lovingly to the conductor’s baton.

Semperoper: Premiere of “Guntram”
February 25, 2014
 
Dresdner Morgenpost
JÖRG SCHNEIDER

“With Omer Meir Wellber at the podium, the Staatskapelle achieved a dynamic high with brilliant highlights.”

The journeyman's piece as a musical masterpiece
February 25, 2014
 
Opernnetz.de
ANDREAS H. HÖLSCHER

“It’s fascinating to observe what Omer Meir Wellber interprets and takes from the score and subsequently transforms into sound. The musicians follow him, they accept this young maestro and together they have drawn fantastic results from this difficult oeuvre. Omer Meir Wellber lead the musicians carefully through all obstacles in the score and created a sound so colourful and nuanced that one sometimes forgets to breathe due to the excitement […].”

Interview with conductor Omer Meir Wellber
September 10, 2013

Tutti Magazine
JEAN-CLAUDE LANOT

The Tutti Ovation, which we so readily dedicated to the Blu-ray and DVD of the production Eugene Onegin filmed at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sophia in Valencia enticed us to approach the young conductor who directs it: Omer Meir Wellber. At 32, this former assistant to Daniel Barenboim in Berlin and at La Scala familiarized himself with opera very early on in Tel Aviv, then in Padua, Milan and Berlin before being named Musical Director in Valencia. He grants us this interview while making his debut in Verona, directing Aida on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Arena staged by Carlus Padrissa and Alex Ollé, the creaters of La Fura dels Baus...

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Conducting a Winner
April 18, 2013

Yediot Aharonot
AMIR MENDEL

The Israeli Opera is presenting Otello as part of the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth, and succeeds completely in delighting and thrilling its audience. […] The great achievement of the evening belonged to the conductor. Omer M. Wellber is a young conductor, but in the past years he has accumulated many hours of experience with Verdi, and this familiarity could be sensed throughout the production. In every operatic production, one of the major issues is the balance between the soloists, the producer’s power, and the conductor’s authority. The one whose influence could be seen at all times in the superb musical rhythm and in the formation of the orchestra’s dramatic power, was the conductor.”

„La Traviata", Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra
December 15, 2012

Der Neue Merker
GERHARD HOFFMAN

Musical initiator of this wonderful production was young, Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber, who from the conductor’s desk literally set the stage on power. Smooth, rhythmically pointed, the Maestro determined the sound style of the precise, lively, featherweight playing Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra that it was a delight to listen to. Regardless all tempi he still left the singers room to breathe. One should give this ambitious artist more assignments!

„LA TRAVIATA“
December 15, 2012

GERHARD HOFFMAN

Musikalischer Impulsgeber dieser vorzüglichen Wiedergabe war der junge, israelische Dirigent Omer Meir Wellber, welcher vom Pult aus die Bühne regelrecht unter Strom setzte. 
Geschmeidig, rhythmisch pointiert bestimmte der Maestro den Klangduktus des akurat, spritzig, federleicht musizierenden Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchesters, dass es eine Wonne war zu lauschen und ließ bei allen Tempi, den Sängern dennoch Raum zum Atmen, zur Entfaltung der Gefühle. Man sollte diesen aufstrebenden Könner mit weiteren Aufgaben betreuen!

Note by note: Omer Meir Wellber makes debut with the DSO
October 12, 2012

Tagesspiegel
CHRISTIANE PEITZ

In the final movement with its brutal opening fanfare, however, he gives us a merciless sharpness which makes us sit up: every note is a revelation, an impossible triumph distorted by pain. Audience wowed.

A reconciliation with Jean Sibelius
October 12, 2012

Berliner Morgenpost
KLAUS GEITEL

After the interval the ambitious Wellber conducted Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony in penetrating fashion, working his orchestra up, time and again, into veritable ecstasies of expression. These alternated occasionally with the indifferent and casual. As a result, the performance was a fluctuation of hot and cold emotions just as Mahler might have imagined in his early years.

The DSO under Omer Meir Wellber
October 11, 2012

RBB Kulturradio
ANDREAS GOEBEL

Omer Meir Wellber is an impressive talent: serious, highly musical, self-confident on the rostrum. Even though caution is called for when making predictions, we can venture to say that we shall be hearing a lot more of this conductor.

La Traviata at the Opera Festival
July 28, 2012

Klassik.com, July 28, 2012
DR. DANIEL KRAUSE

On the evening of July 27, we were treated to an extremely impressive performance. Omer Meir Wellber's feverish, unsentimental, and nervous (in the very best sense) conducting style
stressed fast tempos and rhythmic tension. Forced dynamics were fortunately rare, as Wellber clearly understood how to skillfully blend the various orchestral parts. Following an initially
slightly impure intonation, the orchestra rose to the occasion, providing a precise, clear musical performance in a dignified manner that befitted the festival atmosphere.

'La Traviata' bei den Opernfestspielen
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Microsoft Office document icon La Traviata Munich July 2012 Klassik Magazin.doc
Wellber Masters Carmen and Elisir
July 20, 2012

La Stampa
ALBERTO MATTIOLI

The exceptional talent of Omer Meir Wellber, 31, is confirmed by the fact that he has been successful all over the world...

What a Carmen! That vitality, that drama (the overture is the most brilliant I've ever heard), that orgiastic sense of rhythm, color, effects. One is at first blinded, then admiring, and finally captivated. Regarding Elisir, it is not so much that it is a "conductor's opera" but the fact that for once it actually has one, and this exceptional quality makes us understand how miserable the usual metronomes really are.

La Stampa 200712 Alberto Mattioli
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La Stampa Alberto Mattioli
July 20, 2012
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Standing Ovation
May 7, 2012

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
HARALD BUDWEG

Barenboim's former assistant, Omer Meir Wellber

Everyone could sense that 30-year-old Israeli Omer Wellber, who until 2010 was
Barenboim's assistant at the Berlin State Opera and Milan Scala, was full of confidence as he
stood at the podium of the hr-Sinfonieorchester in the Frankfurter Sendesaal, demonstrating
his technical assurance, artistic knowledge, and solid expertise.

Wellber's conducting appeared very gentle, economical, and well-considered in terms of
the piece's structure. […] Wellber made a strong impression with his own interpretation,
inspired musical
images, and the precise way in which this material was presented, taking into account the
full range of melodic qualities. The piece sounded very elegant from the beginning, and
although the execution of the legato was particularly delicate, it fortunately did not come at
the expense of a dramatic crescendo.

Rigoletto Vienna Sueddeutsche
June 12, 2011
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Timeless Darkness
June 1, 2011

Süddeutsche Zeitung
HELMUT MAURÓ

Vienna Festival: Young conductor Omer Meir Wellber brings Luc Bondy's Rigoletto
to life.

[…] At the beginning and the end, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra gave a very good,
surprising performance due to Wellber's relatively controlled yet musically impulsive
gesture, which created strong musical and emotional tension.

More than theatrically staging these kinds of tensions, one can and must base them on the
music. This was demonstrated by the astounding confidence and already routine conducting
of the young Wellber, who previously assisted Daniel Barenboim. He effortlessly brought
into line the initially creaky and musically somewhat insecure orchestra, so that by the end
there was almost elegant uniformity with the singers and narrative, including mood swings
and prophetic foretelling – it was masterly.

The New Barenboim is Called Wellber
December 22, 2010

Avvenire, 
PIERACHILLE DOLFINI

Israel-born Omer Meir Wellber could be defined as the new Barenboim. He has been described as one of the most significant emerging talents in the field of orchestral conducting, and demonstrated his talent last year on various occasions such as Aida in Padua, Rigoletto, Traviata, and Trovatore in Vienna and Li Schiaccianoci at La Scala in Milan.

Daphne Dresden
October 3, 2010
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Fire from the Podium
October 3, 2009

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
JULIA SPINOLA

Daniel Barenboim thinks highly of him, and the Valencia opera house has appointed
him as Chief Conductor Lorin Maazel's successor: On Saturday, 29-year-old Israeli
conductor Omer Meir Wellber conducted the opening performance at the Dresden
Semperoper.
Omer Meir Wellber loves to go to the extreme in his performances.
He memorizes each piece very quickly, and is ready to perform almost "too quickly".
Last season, conducting Carmen at the Berlin State Opera, you could experience enough
precision, freshness, and drama to take your breath away.

 

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