Born in
Bensheim, Germany in 1926, conductor Otto-Werner Mueller has
helped shape the orchestral training programs of distinguished
musical institutions in the United States and Canada. After
studying conducting, composition, piano, trumpet, and viola
in Frankfurt, Mr. Mueller became director of the chamber music
department for Radio Stuttgart at the age of nineteen, and
was founder and conductor of the celebrated Radio Stuttgart
Chamber Choir. Two years later, he served as conductor of
opera and operetta for the Heidelberg Theater. In Heidelberg,
he founded the orchestra for dependents of United States military
forces stationed there. Emigrating in 1951 to Canada, Mr.
Mueller worked extensively for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
as conductor of opera, ballet, and symphonic presentations,
and in 1958 became teacher and conductor at the Montreal Conservatory.
He later served as director of the Victoria Symphony, and
was founder and dean of the Victoria School of Music.
Mr. Mueller
was a guest professor at the Moscow State Conservatory in
1963, and toured the Republics of the former Soviet Union
in 1968 and 1970, conducting the Moscow, St. Petersburg, and
Riga symphonies. He has conducted throughout North America
and was a guest conductor at the Scottish National Orchestra
and the Krakow Philharmonic. Mr. Mueller has trained the conductors
of many American orchestras, teaching at the Yale University
School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison, American
Choral Foundation's Summer Institute, Aspen Music Festival,
American Symphony Orchestra League's conducting seminars,
and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. Recently retired
as Juilliard Director of Orchestral Studies, he currently
is a member of the faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music.
