Orchestra for Practical Conducting Lessons (OPD)
Many years ago, the Orchestra for Practical Conducting Lessons (OPD) was founded at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT. This ensemble is the ideal working tool for the practical training of conductors. It replaces the conducting training practised worldwide, in which the orchestra is usually replaced by pianos, with work on the correct orchestral sound.
This successful model was first copied throughout Germany, then several times in Europe, and has now provided conductors with valuable practical building blocks on their way to success for many years. Up to now, the OPD has been supported financially by private sponsorship or by the support of various associations. Each player and each choir singer receives a fee per hour, with a rehearsal time of three hours.
As a rule, five rehearsals take place in the winter semester and four in the summer semester, with different instrumentations. An orchestra with a maximum of 45 musicians is available for each of the rehearsals. As a rule, five to six conducting students conduct. For the COPD (choir and orchestra for practical conducting lessons) there are also about 25 singers.
This gives the young conductors a great opportunity to expand their practical experience, which is so important for their studies, by working with an orchestra with different literature and instrumentation. In contrast to working with a professional orchestra, there is more room for experimentation in the OPD as a working orchestra; one can and may take risks and develop in this protected space.
In a classic win-win situation, on the other hand, instrumentalists get to know many works of standard literature that they will play in the orchestra later in their careers. During the rehearsals with concert literature, the students of the instrumental classes get the chance to gain experience as soloists with orchestra and conductor. The mutual perception of orchestra musician / choir singer / soloist / conductor is strongly encouraged.
It is especially important for all participants to learn how a conductor must work, why certain procedures do not work, where the instrumentalist must take responsibility. For the conductors, this is the most important part of the training, which cannot be learned in the simulation in the classroom: The direct confrontation with the orchestra apparatus and with the soloists, the differentiated listening to the overall sound in order to bring about specific changes or improvements, the psychological leadership of the group etc.
The long list of successes of the conducting students of the Department of Conducting and Opera Correpetition is proof of the excellent practical work offered at the Weimar University of Music - the OPD/COPD is an important pillar of this model. It is strongly supported by all sides - instrumentalists, singers, conductors - and a continuation of this unique cooperation is desired by all.
The Orchestra for practical conducting lessons needs your support!
For more information about the orchestra and funding opportunities, please contact the following persons.
Contact
Prof. Ekhart Wycik
Professor of Orchestral Conducting
Member of the Senate
Trusted Lecturer for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation
Hochschulzentrum am Horn
Prof. Ekhart Wycik was born in Hagen in Westphalia, Germany. After studying in Düsseldorf and Vienna (Conducting, Piano, Musicology, Philosophy) he graduated "summa cum laude" from the Robert-Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf. Shortly thereafter, he was accepted into the "Dirigentenforum" of the National Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat) and rounded out his studies through master classes with Rolf Reuter, Manfred Mayrhofer, Leif Segerstam and Heinz Rögner. He also acted as Assistant Conductor for Gustav Kuhn for several years.
Ekhart Wycik had his first engagement as coach and conductor at the Municipal Opera House in Bielefeld, where he was awarded the "Bielefeld Opera Award", and was promoted to Kapellmeister. After a decade as conductor on the staff of several German orchestras and opera companies, Wycik was appointed Associate General Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Dortmund Opera Theater in 2006.
During his time in Dortmung, he was appointed "Principal Guest Conductor" of the Wichita Grand Opera in Kansas and began his international career. Whether in concert or opera genres, he has conducted in Europe, Asia and the US – amongst others, in Athens, Ljubljana, Riga, Austria, Corea, at the Scottish Opera in Glasgow, at the Opera House in Belfast, at the Teatro Comunale di Bolzano, at the State Theatre of Darmstadt in Germany, as well as various productions at the Sarasota Opera in Florida.
During his vast conducting activities, Ekhart Wycik has acquired a broad opera repertoire of over 70 conducted works. On the concert podium, he has worked with several major German orchestras, including Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester of Berlin, the Bochum Symphonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra, the Radio Orchestras of Saarbrücken and Cologne, the Jena Philharmonic, the North German Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Staatskapelle Halle. He has an ongoing cooperation with the Haydn Orchestra in Bolzano,Italy and with the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra in Germany with whom he recorded a CD with works from Beethoven and Rachmaninov.
Wycik was a multiple fellow of the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD) – as a student in Vienna and as guest professor at the Indiana University in the USA (ROSENKAVALIER). Amongst his most rewarding experiences as a conductor were the productions of MAGIC FLUTE in Scotland, which was chosen by the "Guardian" as "one of the 10 best classical music productions of 2012", and HÄNSEL UND GRETEL in Bolzano, Italy, which was ranked by "operaclick" as "one of the 10 best opera productions in Europe".
After teaching at the Music Universities in Saarbrücken, Cologne and Düsseldorf, he was appointed Professor for Orchestral Conducting at the FRANZ LISZT University of Music in Weimar, Germany. In 2022, he was appointed a trusted lecturer of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Ekhart Wycik has widespread experience in the areas of cultural marketing, education and public relations as well as public speaking, moderation for classic radio and live moderation of his symphony concerts for all ages.
Further informations: www.ekhartwycik.com