Prof. Frank Cramer Conductor

Frank Cramer was born in Essen, Germany, were he studied conducting at the Folkwang University of the Arts. He completed his studies at the University for Music in Hamburg with Horst Stein.

After his first engagement at the State Theater in Oldenburg, he performed at the Theatre of Würzburg in the position of the vice musical director from 1980-88. In result of his celebrated success with Verdis Aida in the Arena Sferisterio di Macerata in 1989, Frank Cramer has been invited to concert halls and opera houses throughout Europe ( a.o. Vienna, Zurich, Basel, Bern, Budapest, Florence, Turin, Genoa, Sevilla, Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, Hamburg, Düsseldorf - Duisburg), the USA, Eastern Asia and South Africa. His broad repertoire ranges from Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Strauss' Salome to Berg's Wozzeck.

In concerts Frank Cramer favors the composers Beethoven, Mozart, Mahler and particulary Bruckner. He furthermore devotes himself to non-main stream composers, like the late romantics Zemlinsky, Korngold and Nielsen or composers like Messiaen, Lutoslawski, Schönberg and Webern.

Frank Cramer has been invited to many Festivals such as the Biennale Munich, the Budapest Spring Festival (Hungarian National Philharmony) and the renowned Tongyeong International Music Festivalin South-Korea. Numerous radio- and television productions for the West German Radio WDR, the Bavarian Radio BR, the ZDF,the Swiss Radio DRS, the Radiotelevisione Italiana (the RAI National Symphony Orchestra Turin) and the MDR Leipzig show his artistic work. For the CD label Dacapo, Frank Cramer conducted the complete symphonies of the Danish late-romantic composer Ludolf Nielsen with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Danish Philharmonic Orchestra.

From 1988 to 2009 Frank Cramer worked as professor for conducting at the University of Music Karlsruhe, Germany. In 2009 he is nominated as professor for opera and music theatre at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria.

2008-09 he gave his debut at Dresden's Semper Opera and with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted symphony concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy and South Korea. In 2010 he directed the Korean premiere of Alban Berg's Lulu at the National Opera of Korea in Seoul Arts Center with TV recording by KBS.

2011 Frank Cramer recorded various works by the Danish composer Finn Hoeffding with the Jena Philharmonic Orchestraon on CD for the label Dacapo, and he directed, among others, symphony concerts in Germany and Austria.

Frank Cramer resides in Munich and Graz.

His website is: www.frankcramer.com