Hans Graf

Hans Graf is an Austrian conductor. As a child, Graf learned the violin and the piano. He studied at the Musikhochschule in Graz, Austria, and graduated with diplomas in piano and conducting. He also participated in conducting master classes with Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Arvīds Jansons. He received a state scholarship at the Leningrad Conservatory with Arvid Jansons. For the season 1975/1976 Graf was music director of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad. After winning the Karl Böhm conductor's competition in 1979, he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1981 with Stravinsky's Petrouchka. He then worked at major opera houses including Munich, Paris, Florence, Venice and Rome. Since 1995, he has conducted most major American orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra.

Graf was music director of the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg from 1984 to 1994, where he recorded the complete symphonies and other works by Mozart. From 1994 to 1996, he held the position of music director of the Basque National Orchestra, then from 1995 to 2003, of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and from 1998 to 2004 of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, France, where he was nominated member of the Legion of Honour in 2002.