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born in Freiburg/ Breisgau Johannes Willig began his studies in piano, conducting and accompaniment at the Freiburg Music Academy (1990-94). He continued his conducting studies in Vienna with Prof. Leopold Hager, Prof. Dr. Harald Goetz and Prof Konrad Leitner. Masterclasses with Jorma Panula.
After winning several competitions he began his professional career as assistant to the Music Director of the Biel/Solothurn theatre in Switzerland where he conducted performances of Anna Bolena, Roberto Devereux, Faust, Attila and Madama Butterfly.
From 2000 - 2003 Johannes Willig joined the Baden State Theatre Karlsruhe as assistant to the Music Director (Kazushi Ono) and second Kapellmeister. He got the opportunity to conduct operas such as Norma, Aida, Salome, Lohengrin, Falstaff, Lakmé, Tosca, Attila, Ernani and Cendrillon. Furthermore he lead new productions of Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmilla, Die Fledermaus and I Puritani. He became very popular as conductor and narrator of the Theatre's Children and Youth Concerts for which he was responsible.
Since 2003/04 Maestro Willig is at the Kiel Opera, in the capacity of 1st Kapellmeister. Apart from various concerts he has been entrusted to conduct new productions of Norma, Le Nozze di Figaro, Anna Bolena, Alberto Colla's Der Prozess, Nino Rota's Aladdin und die Wunderlampe, A Florentine Tragedy, Gianni Schicchi, La Gioconda, Werther, Don Quijote (Christobal Halffter), La Forza del Destino, Viva la Mamma,La Clemenz di Tito, Sacre du printemps and Turandot. His busy schedule also included guest performances of The Magic Flute at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, La Bohème at the Wiesbaden State Theatre and the Freiburg Opera as well as Norma and Otello at the St. Gallen Opera.
Concert engagements took him to the Vienna Pro Arte Orchestra, to the Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn, to the "Georg Enescu" Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra and to the Baden State Symphony, Karlsruhe. In 2004 he conducted the New-Year's Concerts of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna in Munich and the Teatro San Carlo, Naples. In the 2005/06 season he guest conducted the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Münster, the Neue Westfälische Philharmonie and the Orquestra Nacional do Porto, respectively. In 2006/07 he was invited to the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Freiburg Theatre and the Baden State Theatre.
New productions during the 2008/09 season at the Kiel Opera included: Hänsel and Gretel, L'italiana in Algeri and Pique Dame.
Johannes Willig also conducted performances of Rosenkavalier, Don Carlos and Turandot.
He was also responsible for a number of concerts as part of his contract in Kiel.
The Opéra de Lyon has invited the artist for a revival of Prokofiev's Roméo et Juliette in November 2008.
In the season 2009/2010 he conducted new productions of Die Lustige Witwe, Wozzeck and Cosi fan tutte in Kiel; he also was responsible for the revivals of Pique Dame and Hänsel and Gretel and concerts in November 09, December 09 and February 10.
The Opéra de Lyon has invited him back in June 2010 to conduct the new production of Hänsel and Gretel.
New productions in the season 2010/2011 in Kiel are The Magic Flute,Rusalka and Les Contes d'Hoffmann.
Johannes Willig also conducts the revival of Rosenkavalier, performances of Boheme and Salome and a few concert programmes including Mendelssohn's 5th Symphony and Mozart's E-flat major Symphony KV 543.
With the beginning of the season 2011 / 2012 he will be 1st Kapellmeister at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.
© Johannes Willig , July 2011
