Wilson Hermanto
Praised for his deep musicianship, natural authority, exuberant energy and elegance as a conductor, Wilson Hermanto has built up a prolific international career. Since 2017 Mr. Hermanto is the Principal Guest Conductor of the chamber orchestra Cameristi della Scala. In the current season 2020-21 Wilson Hermanto conducts Cameristi della Scala in various important projects: with the cellist Daniel Müller-Schott in Italy (Verona and Imola), with the pianist Ramin Bahrami in Austria (Klagenfurt) as well as performances of J.S Bach St. Matthew Passion in Milan and Geneva. As guest conductor Mr. Hermanto makes his debuts with the Argovia Philharmonic in Switzerland and the George Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest.
During 2019-20 season, Wilson Hermanto performed with Cameristi della Scala at George Enescu Festival in Romania and took the orchestra to France (La Rochelle) and Switzerland (Vevey). Other highlights during the same season were Mr. Hermanto’s debuts conducting the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestra of Accademia del Teatro alla Scala and a return invitation conducting Orchestre national de Metz in France. In 2018-19 season together with Cameristi della Scala, Wilson Hermanto led performances in Germany (Eckelshausener Musiktage), France (Grenoble) and for the 2nd consecutive year at Teatro alla Scala di Milano. As guest conductor Mr. Hermanto was re-invited to both the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Szczecin Philharmonic Orchestra and made his debuts conducting Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile. In 2017-18 season, with Cameristi della Scala Wilson Hermanto gave performances in the prestigious Meisterinterpreten Series at Tonhalle Zürich, Izmir International Music Festival in Turkey, Variations Musicales de Tannay music festival in Switzerland as well as conducting the Centennial Anniversary concert of Leonard Bernstein at Teatro alla Scala di Milano.
At the invitation of Valery Gergiev, Wilson Hermanto made his debut conducting a stage production of Mozart Don Giovanni at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg as well as a Mozart-cycle symphonic concerts with the Mariinsky Orchestra. As a protégé of the late Pierre Boulez, Mr. Hermanto conducted Maestro Boulez’s 90th anniversary celebration in 2015 with the new music group Ensemble Contrechamps in Geneva. Since the last few years Wilson Hermanto performs regularly in France where up to now he has worked with various French orchestras such as Orchestre national de Lyon, Orchestre philharmonique de radio France, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de chambre de Paris and Orchestre national d’Île de France.
Other notable highlights were performances with orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Prague Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra (Belfast), Florida Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley (San Jose, California), English Chamber Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de chambre de Genève, Orquesta filarmónica de Bogotá and Orquesta filarmonica de Jalisco (Guadalajara, Mexico).
With large repertoire encompassing music from the Baroque period until the music of our time, Wilson Hermanto has performed and worked with many renowned contemporary composers such as Zygmunt Krauze, Bruno Mantovani, Jörg Widmann, Agata Zubel, Thuridur Jónsdóttir, Helmut Lachenmann, Giovanni Sollima, Magdalena Długosz, H.K Gruber, Matteo Franceschini, Enno Poppe and Lowell Liebermann. Various soloists with whom Mr. Hermanto has worked together include Lang Lang, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott, Sergei Babayan, Boris Berezovsky, Alexei Volodin, Christine Goerke, Miah Persson, Alina Pogostkina, Guy Braunstein, Nils Mönkemeyer, Kian Soltani, Richard Galliano, Radek Baborák and the Trio Wanderer.
Born in Indonesia of Chinese descent and since over a decade a Swiss resident, Wilson Hermanto began his music studies playing the piano followed by the violin. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music majoring in violin and obtained conducting degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York studying with the Swedish Maestro Sixten Ehrling. Sir Colin Davis became a close mentor who took personal interest in shaping Mr. Hermanto’s conducting skills. Mr. Hermanto also studied conducting with Carlo Maria Giulini at Scuola Musica di Fiesole in Italy and he was a Conductor Fellow at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Centre working with Seiji Ozawa and a Conductor Fellow at the Lucerne Festival Academy under the tutelage of Pierre Boulez.
Passionate with the education of the younger generation, Wilson Hermanto taught conducting masterclasses to the graduate conducting students of the Royal College of Music in London, Hochschule für Musik in Nürnberg and also taught chamber music masterclasses at Conservatorio “Claudio Monteverdi” in Cremona. Over the years Mr. Hermanto has worked with the orchestras of the major music conservatories in Switzerland (Geneva, Lausanne), Nürnberg in Germany, Cleveland Institute of Music and between 1999 to 2002 served as the Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles.