Bas Wiegers

With esprit and undogmatic openness, Bas Wiegers is recommended to conduct well-known European orchestras and soloist ensembles. For his detailed work, the conductor drew on his many years of experience as a violinist and his well-founded knowledge of the repertoire from the Baroque to today’s music.

In his native Netherlands, Bas Wiegers has worked with the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and alongside Peter Eötvös with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has also made guest appearances with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Athens State Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, the Ensemble Modern, the Neue Vokalsolisten Stuttgart and at festivals such as November Music, Holland Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, London Almeida Festival, Aldeburgh Music Festival and Eight Bridges in Cologne.

In September 2018, Bas Wiegers was appointed first guest conductor of Klangforum Wien, with whom he will be performing in the 2019/20 season at Wien Modern and the Kölner Philharmonie, among others. Overall, the new season is varied: he performs Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in Arnhem and makes his debut at the Stuttgart State Opera with Death in Venice. For the premiere of Sciarrino’s new opera Il canto s’attrista, perché? Bas Wiegers returns to the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, with the Het Gelders Orkest and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra he conducted the program from Rebel to Mozart and Schubert to Schreker, most recently he made his debut with the SWR Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Resonanz (Donaueschingen).

As opera directors, Bas Wiegers conducted Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Britten’s Noah’s Sintflut, Kyriakides’ An Ocean of Rain, as well as Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias and La Voix Humaine. In 2017 he launched Helmut Oehring’s KUNST MUSS (too far go) or DER ENGEL SCHWIEG at the Cologne Opera. In March 2019 he premiered the revised version of Georg Friedrich Haas’ successful opera Koma at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt.

Bas Wiegers is a valued partner for composers such as Louis Andriessen, Georges Aperghis, Georg Friedrich Haas, Pierluigi Billone, Helmut Lachenmann and Rebecca Saunders.

Following his musical training in Amsterdam and Freiburg, Bas Wiegers initially devoted himself to a successful career as a violinist with a focus on historical performance practice. In 2009 he was awarded the Conducting Scholarship of the Kersjes Foundation. Assistants to Mariss Jansons and Susanna Mälkki at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra followed, encouraging him to concentrate fully on conducting.