alexander Weimann
Alexander Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors, soloists, and chamber music partners of his generation. After traveling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia, Cantus Cölln, Freiburger Barock Orchester, Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik, he now focuses on his activities as Music Director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver and the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, as well as guest conducting.
Most recently, Weimann has worked with Holland Baroque, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Victoria Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia; both the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Montréal Symphony Orchestra have regularly featured him as a guest soloist. In recent seasons, memorable projects include Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites at the Oregon Bach Festival, solo recitals for organ at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, organ concertos with Portland Baroque, a recording of Vivaldi concertos for recorder with Vincent Lauzer and the Arion Baroque Orchestra, and his latest US/Canadian tour and release of Karina Gauvin’s album “Nuits Blanches”.
Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. He made his North American recording debut with the ensemble Tragicomedia on the CD “Capritio” (Harmonia Mundi USA) and won worldwide acclaim from both the public and critics for one of the earliest releases of Handel’s Gloria (ATMA Classique). His recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti started in May 2005, critics around the world unanimously praised it, and in the following year it was nominated for an Opus Prize as the best Canadian early music recording. In the meantime, he has also released an Opus Award-winning CD of Handel oratorio arias with superstar soprano Karina Gauvin and his Montréal-based ensemble Tempo Rubato, a recording of Bach’s St. John’s Passion, Handel’s complete Orlando, various albums with Les Voix Baroques of works by Buxtehude, Carissimi, and Purcell, all with rave reviews and winning many awards, such as the Juno-award-winning album “Prima Donna” with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque orchestra. He just finished a 3-volume project with CBC’s “In concert” on the topic of improvisation on organ, harpsichord and piano and in the spring of 2020, released his latest recording with his Pacific Baroque Orchestra, starring Karina Gauvin in a programme with opera arias from the St. Petersburg court (“Nuits Blanches”). Immediately after its release, it was nominated for the Prix Opus.
Alexander Weimann was born in Munich, Germany where he studied organ, church music, musicology (with a summa-cum-laude thesis on the secco recitatives in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion), theatre, medieval Latin, and Jazz piano, supported by a variety of scholarships. After graduating, Weimann began teaching improvisation and music theory at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and since that time, has given countless master classes at European and North American universities, including at Malmö, Sweden, Bremen, Germany, Mount Allison NB, and Berkeley CA. He worked for several years as a vocal coach at the Université de Montréal and harpsichord teacher at McGill, and now teaches harpsichord, basso continuo and Early Music Ensemble at the UBC School of Music.
December 2023
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““Handel doesn’t miss a trick in creating spectacular choral effects; neither did music director Alexander Weimann in bringing them to life with theatrical cunning and an all-embracing sense of joy.””
