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Eric Melear

Eric Melear

Based in Vienna, Austria, Eric Melear enjoys a diverse career as a conductor and pianist, working regularly on multiple continents and with a wide variety of singers and companies. A member of the music staffs at both the Vienna State Opera and The Metropolitan Opera, he has guest conducted at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival and at numerous U.S. opera houses, including Houston Grand Opera, Arizona Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, among others. Mr. Melear has also long been a champion of young artists, having led Studios at both Houston Grand Opera and Wolf Trap Opera, as well as serving as a guest coach for programs and universities in the U.K., Italy, and the U.S. 


Since returning to the Vienna State Opera full-time in 2015, Mr. Melear has conducted performances of Wagner’s Nibelungen Ring for Children and Pünktchen und Anton and assisted Zubin Mehta, Peter Schneider, Simone Young, among many others. Sharing the duties of preparing the 45-50 operas a season, he also conducts the full-time stage orchestra, regularly coaches the ensemble of singers and the newly created Studio program, and can be seen in recitals and featured on continuo. 


This season Mr. Melear is again on the podium for performances of Die Entführung ins Zauberreich at Vienna State Opera, leading banda ensembles at both the Metropolitan Opera and in Vienna, assisting on La traviata, Otello, Nabucco, Peter Grimes, Anna Bolena, and more, as well as appearing in recital with Slávka Zámečníková and Peter Kellner.