Franz Mikorey - Piano Concerto in A Major

Franz Mikorey

 (1873 - 1947) was a German conductor, pianist, composer, and general music director

 

Piano Concerto in A Major

I. Allegro moderato (immer frisch bewegt) 0:00
II. Largo - Largo molto - Cadenza - Langsam in Zeitmass - Presto - Allegro energico, con fuoco 9:26

Bernd Glemser, piano
Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau
Markus L. Frank, conductor

He was the son of the opera tenor and Wagner singer Max Mikorey and his wife Angelika, nee Müller. After graduating from high school in 1892 at Wilhelmsgymnasium Munich he studied in Munich with Ludwig Thuille (composition), Louis Blumschein and Heinrich Schwartz (piano), Hermann Levi (conducting), and Heinrich von Herzogenberg (music theory). During his studies he became a member of the Akademischer Gesangverein München. In 1894 he was Hermann Levi's assistant at the Wagner performances in Bayreuth and then assistant accompanist and stage conductor at the Munich Court Theater. From 1896 to 1898 he worked as the third and second Kapellmeister at the Deutsches Theater in Prague under Angelo Neumann, where he conducted the premiere of the first movement of his great symphony on the Adriatic Sea from the manuscript in March 1897. Starting in October 1898 he was the first Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater Regensburg and, 1899, at the Stadttheater in Cologne. From 1900 to 1901 he had a job as Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater Elberfeld. He then received a contract for six years at the Vienna Court Opera under Gustav Mahler. This contract was dissolved by Mikorey for Mahler's failure to give him any assignments. on October 20, 1902, he succeeded the late August Klughardt as Hofkapellmeister and music director of the Dessauer Hofoper, after he had qualified by guest conducting Lohengrin , Fra Diavolo, and The Marriage of Figaro. In 1909 Mikorey appeared as a guest conductor at the Berlin Kroll Opera, and, in 1910 he conducted the Festival of the Magic Flute in Salzburg, the Wagner Festival in Halle an der Saale, in 1912 the Wagner Festival in Budapest, and in 1913 the German Music Festival in Berlin. In 1918 he conducted a charity concert at the Prinzregententheater in Munich and held the artistic direction of the Dessau Festival in German-occupied Bucharest. His 16-year career in Dessau ended in scandal . After fierce criticism by the theatrical workers of his style of leadership, Mikorey resigned on November, 18, 1918. A compromise, which would have allowed him to continue his activities until the end of June 1919, failed because of the unanimous vote of no confidence by the employees. Until the inauguration of his successor Hans Knappertsbusch, Albert Bing , who was the first Kapellmeister in Dessau since 1915, led the orchestra. From 1919 to 1924 Mikorey was Kapellmeister at the State Opera in Helsingfors, then, until 1928, General Music Director in Brunswick. In 1925 he conducted there the opera Admeto by George Frideric Handel, which thus was resurrected after 170 years. From 1929 on he lived as a freelance artist in Munich and Garmisch. Franz Mikorey was buried in a family grave in the Garmisch Cemetery in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.