Munich Chamber Orchestra

Hans Stadlmair earned lasting recognition for his four-decade tenure as artistic director of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, during which he guided the ensemble through more than four thousand performances and an extensive catalog of recordings. In later decades a segment of listeners came to know him chiefly as the leading advocate for the eleven symphonies of (Joseph) Joachim Raff; between 2005 and 2007 he committed the complete cycle and additional orchestral scores to disc for the Tudor label, earning widespread praise. Although he largely steered clear of opera, his programming embraced a wide spectrum that extended from J.S. Bach and Biber to Bernstein and Zwilich. Under his direction the orchestra traveled across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa and captured performances for Deutsche Grammophon, Orfeo, Vox, and Denon.

Born on May 3, 1929, in Neuhofen an der Krems, Austria, Stadlmair pursued violin, composition, and conducting at the Vienna Academy of Music from 1946 to 1952, studying with Clemens Krauss and Alfred Uhl. He continued private composition lessons in Stuttgart with Johann Nepomuk David until 1956. That same year he assumed leadership of the Munich Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1950, and remained its artistic director until 1995. During his stewardship the group maintained a steady presence in both familiar repertoire and new music, giving the 1971 world premiere of Wilhelm Killmayer’s Fin al punto and producing more than five hundred radio recordings for Bavarian Radio. While fulfilling regular concert duties and frequent international engagements, he also composed, achieving notable success with the 1966 Toccata for strings and harpsichord and the 1970 Sinfonia serena for string orchestra.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Stadlmair and the Munich Chamber Orchestra attracted growing international attention through their recordings and broadcasts. As a composer he continued to receive recognition, notably with the 1981 Sonata da chiesa for viola and organ. In 1989 he was awarded Germany’s Order of Merit in acknowledgment of his contributions. After relinquishing his Munich post in 1996 he remained active both as a conductor—leading the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in concerts and on recordings—and as a composer, producing the orchestral work Miró in 2006; that score received its major premiere in 2011 when the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra performed it under Christian Thielemann. Stadlmair died at his home in Munich on February 13, 2019.