Leo McFall becomes chief conductor in Bregenz
The Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra (SOV), based in Bregenz, has a new chief conductor in the form of Brit Leo McFall. A collaboration of at least five years has been agreed with him, starting in the 2020/21 season.
The London-born conductor is thus returning to Vorarlberg, where he already directed two SOV productions last year. He succeeds Gérard Korsten, who stepped down in summer 2018 after 13 seasons. The decision was preceded by an intensive selection process in which the musicians of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra were also involved.
McFall won the German Conducting Award in 2015 and was a finalist in the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award the year before. He has worked as a guest conductor with renowned orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He has assisted Bernhard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic.
The Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1984 by a group of musicians and music enthusiasts from the region between the Arlberg and the Rhine. Its members are 120 professional musicians from Vorarlberg and the neighboring regions. Each season, it performs a cycle of six concerts in Bregenz and Feldkirch, plus a major opera production at the Vorarlberg State Theatre, concerts and scenic projects at the international Bregenz Festival in summer, at the Montforter Zwischentöne festival, other guest performances and CD productions.
