Daniel Oren

Daniel Oren (Hebrew: דניאל אורן; born 25 May 1955) is an Israeli conductor.

Biography

Daniel Oren was born in Jaffa, Israel. His paternal grandfather, a Muslim from the prominent Sikseck family who was married to a Jewish woman, rescued Jews several times when under threat of Arab attack. “He was a great man and he loved me very much,” Oren told the Jewish Chronicle in 2021.

Oren later became a more observant Jew and for many years wore a yarmulke wherever he conducted. Today he only wears the yarmulke when conducting in Israel.

Music career

When he was 13 years old, Oren was chosen by Leonard Bernstein to perform the boy solo part in ''Chichester Psalms''. In 1975 he won first prize in the first Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition. He also collaborated with conductors Herbert von Karajan and Franco Ferrara.

Oren began his international career in 1975, winning the first prize at the Karajan Competition Award. Three years later he held his debut in the United States at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto.
In 1984 he debuted in the Arena di Verona with ''Tosca'' sung by Shirley Verrett, Giacomo Aragall, and Ingvar Wixell. In December 1994 he led the New Israeli Opera opening with Verdi's ''Nabucco''. In the summer of 1995, he conducted ''La Bohème'' at the Teatro Regio in Turin with the participation of Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti and Nicolai Ghiaurov. In February 1996, he conducted ''Fedora'' with Mirella Freni at the Teatro Comunale of Bologna and ''Manon'' by Massenet at the Vienna State Opera – this production was repeated regularly every year. In 1996, he opened the season in the Arena of Verona with ''Carmen'', followed by a concert in Tel Aviv which celebrated the 3000-year anniversary of Jerusalem (the soloists were Deborah Voigt, Agnes Baltsa, Roberto Alagna, Leo Nucci and Ferruccio Furlanetto). In September of that year he led a new production of ''Otello'' in Cyprus with the participation of Katia Ricciarelli, Giuseppe Giacomini and Renato Bruson and directed by Michael Hampe.

In the fall of 1996 he opened with ''Madama Butterfly'' at the Teatro Comunale in Florence and then to San Carlo in Naples with ''Tosca'', with Luciano Pavarotti. He also conducted ''Tosca'' at the Metropolitan in New York, ''Adriana Lecouvreur'' in Rome, Naples; ''Manon'', ''Werther'' and ''Nabucco'' in Trieste, ''Il Trovatore'' in Palermo, ''Aida'' and ''Nabucco'' at the Arena di Verona, ''Manon Lescaut'', ''Madama Butterfly'' and ''The Sleepwalker'' in Florence.

He conducted ''Carmen'' at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden's opera, ''Andrea Chenier'' at the Carlo Felice in Genoa, ''Rigoletto'' at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, ''Tosca'' in Tel Aviv Opera, ''Aida'' and ''Turandot'' in Verona and ''Andrea Chénier'' and ''La Bohème'' Opera Bastille (Paris). At Covent Garden in London he conducted ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''Rigoletto'' and ''Carmen''.

After the success of ''Nabucco'', Oren returned to the Festival Opera of Masada in June 2011 with ''Aida'', repeated at the Arena of Verona. In 2012 he conducted ''Carmen'' at Massada and Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' at the Arena of Verona directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

Since 2007 he has been the artistic director of the Municipal Theatre Giuseppe Verdi in Salerno.

Oren collaborates with the Royal Opera House in London, the Opera de Paris, the Arena di Verona, the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, the Teatro Real Madrid, Liceu Theatre in Barcelona, Theatre du Capitole at Toulouse, Shanghai Opera House, Ncpa Beijing, where Oren conducted ''Macbeth'' with Plácido Domingo.

In 2015 he conducted a concert in the Vatican City for poor people and immigrants in the presence of Pope Francis.

In 2018 he made his house debut at La Scala in Milan with ''Aida'' in the production by Franco Zeffirelli celebrating the latter's 95th birthday.

At the Israeli Opera he conducted ''Nabucco'' (Verdi), ''La Bohème'', ''Tosca'' (Puccini) and ''La Juive'' (Halevy).

In May 2022, ''Verdi: La Traviata'' was released on the record label Pentatone. The Dresdner Philharmonie, Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden and conductor Daniel Oren present Verdi’s masterpiece ''La Traviata'', together with a stellar cast including René Barbera as Alfredo, Lester Lynch as Germont, and world star soprano Lisette Oropesa as Violetta.

See also

*Music of Israel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oren, Daniel
1955 births
Living people
Jewish classical musicians
21st-century Israeli conductors (music)