Hermanto, Wilson

Born in Jakarta of Chinese descent, the Indonesian–American Wilson Hermanto’s musical training began with the piano and the violin. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music majoring in violin and pursued conducting study from the Manhattan School of Music with the late Swedish Maestro Sixten Ehrling. Sir Colin Davis became a close musical mentor who took personal interest in shaping Wilson Hermanto’s conducting skills. He was also one of the last pupils in the famous conducting class of Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini at Scuola Musica di Fiesole in Italy, a conducting Fellow at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Centre, and a Fellow at the invitation of Pierre Boulez to work at the Lucerne Festival Academy. 

Following his sensational debut with the Cameristi della Scala, in December 2017 Wilson Hermanto began his association with the orchestra as its Principal Guest Conductor.

Recently he conducted a production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg as well as symphony concerts with the Mariinsky Orchestra at the invitation of their legendary Artistic and General Director, Valery Gergiev. As a former Boulez protégé, Wilson Hermanto conducted Boulez’s 90th anniversary celebration in Geneva with the new music group Ensemble Contrechamps. In the 2018/19 season, Wilson Hermanto together with Cameristi della Scala performed in France as well as in their annual Teatro alla Scala di Milano series. He returned as Guest Conductor with both the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Szczecin Philharmonic and made his debuts with Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile and the Symphony Orchestra in Bari. 

Wilson Hermanto has a particularly strong pro le in France where he appeared with Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Orchestre Symphonique de l’Opéra de Toulon, Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne, Orchestre Symphonique de Nancy as well as at Festival de la Grange de Meslay. 

Other highlights include performances with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken for a televised Richard Strauss programme celebrating the composer’s 150th anniversary, Prague Symphony Orchestra for a critically acclaimed complete Daphnis et Chloé by Ravel, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, NDR Radio Philharmonie Hannover, Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley in San Jose, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra with the pianist Lang Lang, Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco in Guadalajara, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.

During the two-year celebration of the anniversary of Gustav Mahler in 2010 and 2011, Wilson Hermanto together with the world-renowned Mahlerian musicologist Prof. Henry-Louis de la Grange, the legendary mezzo Christa Ludwig and Sinfonietta de Lausanne curated Mahler Projects for Suisse Romande which culminated in his performances conducting the composer’s Symphony no. 1 and 4, the orchestral songs, in addition to masterclasses and a symposium. Jacques Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers was staged in Geneva in a successful collaboration that saw Wilson Hermanto conducting the production of stage director Stephan Groegler in 2011. 

Wilson Hermanto is also active in musical education. He has worked with the orchestras of the leading music academies, including Geneva, Lausanne, Nuremberg, and the Cleveland Institute of Music as well as the Royal College of Music in London.