Citation – Maestro Werner Andreas Albert

CITATION
Award of Doctor of Music honoris causa
Maestro Werner Andreas Albert

Chancellor,

Maestro Werner Andreas Albert is a renowned international conductor who has had an association with the University’s School of Music spanning the past 30 years including his current role as an Adjunct Professor. During this time, he has mentored and advised countless staff and students in the School as well as throughout the world.

He was instrumental in establishing the Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting at UQ, the first of its kind in Australia.

His own talent as a conductor was recognised at an early age when, as a student, he was selected for a hotly contested two-year personal study with the late Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Before studying with von Karajan, Maestro Albert had been studying Musicology and World History at the University of Heidelberg as well as Conducting at the Heidelberg Conservatorium.

In 2011, he will celebrate 50 years since his first major concert in February 1961 with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and soloist, the world-famous and late violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

The year will also mark three decades since he first set foot in Australia to conduct the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, of which he was Chief Conductor until 1990. He was also Principal Conductor of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra for three years from 1995 and has conducted all six Symphony Australia orchestras. He has also been Chief Conductor of the North West German Philharmonic, the Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon, Portugal) and the Nuremberg Symphony in Germany.

Since 2003, he has conducted the bi-annual School of Music QPAC concerts. This role and his Adjunct Professorial position within the School exemplify his deep commitment to nurturing the next generation of young musicians.

Other examples include his role as a founding member as well as Chief Conductor of the Bavarian State Youth Orchestra for a quarter of a century and leader of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Conducting Workshop for several years.

Maestro Albert has been recognised on many occasions by both the German Federal and Bavarian State Governments for his dedication to music. He holds the title of Member of the Bundesverdienstkreuz, Erste Klasse, the German equivalent of Member of the Order of Australia, as well as the Bayerischer Verdienstorden (Bavarian Order of Merit), which is reserved for a restricted number of living members.

Known as the “connoisseur’s conductor”, Maestro Albert is the most recorded artist in Germany, having completed around 100 CD recordings for innovative German label CPO and more than 600 recordings for broadcast. His extensive reputation is built on an extraordinary collection of recorded works, mastery of the German Romantic repertoire, and a finely developed skill to inspire and draw out the best orchestras.

He has enjoyed great success conducting tours to the United States, South America, China, and most European countries. In recent years he has conducted in Beijing, and in Japan with the New Japan Philharmonic and the Tokyo City Symphony Orchestra.

Maestro Albert shows no signs of slowing down, having recently embarked on an extensive new project indulging his love of opera and in particular, the music of Siegfried Wagner, son of the great Richard Wagner.

Chancellor, in recognition of his distinguished career and contribution to The University of Queensland, I present to you Maestro Werner Andreas Albert (Magister from The University of Heidelberg), for the award of Doctor of Music honoris causa bestowed by the Senate of The University of Queensland.