Marcel Wengler


Marcel Wengler is a Luxembourg composer and conductor. From 1972–1997, he headed the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. Since 2000, he has been director of the Luxembourg Music Information Centre. His compositions include symphonies, concertos, chamber music and musicals.

Early life and education

Born in Esch-sur-Alzette, Wengler studied at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels and at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. Igor Markevitch and Sergiu Celibidache were his mentors during his conducting studies.

Career

As a conductor, Wengler has worked across Europe with a variety of radio companies, recording over a hundred works. With the RTL Symphony Orchestra, he has recorded a series of CDs covering works by Luxembourg composers.
Wengler has composed around 80 works, including symphonies and concertos as well as a stage, chamber and ballet music. In 1983, he wrote the music for Volker Schlöndorff's film Un amour de Swann with the Munich Philharmonic. His musical, Rex Leo, has been staged both in Luxembourg and Graz. In 1995, he conducted the first performance of his Cello Concerto with the Portuguese National Symphony Orchestra in Lisbon and, in 1997, his Viola Concerto with Garth Knox and the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. His Violin Concerto was performed during the World Music Days in Romania and he conducted the première of his Flute Concerto with the Orquestra Nacional do Porto. His compositional style was initially influenced by Beethoven and Mahler and later by Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Hans Werner Henze.
Marcel Wengler is the President of the Luxembourg Society for Contemporary Music, founded in 1983, where he has done much to promote Luxembourg composers who would otherwise have little chance of having their music performed in their native country. One of the achievements of the LSCM was the formation of the Luxembourg Sinfonietta ensemble which he has directed since it was founded in 1999. Since 2000, he has been director of the Luxembourg Music Information Centre which publishes catalogues of Luxembourg compositions and participates in building up an international databank of new music.

Awards

;Stage
;Orchestra
;Band
;Concertante
;Chamber music
;Piano
;Vocal
;Film scores