On April 7, 2024, renowned conductor Michael Boder died at 65.

Born in Darmstadt, Germany on Nov. 9, 19, 1958, Boder was born into a musical family. His father was an opera singer, who appeared in the title role of Berg’s “Wozzeck.”

Boder went on to study at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, and then in Florence where he studied under Riccardo Muti and Zubin Mehta.

Following his studies he became an assistant to Michael Gielen at the Oper Frankfurt and in 1988 he had a big break when he conducted Aribert Reimann’s “Lear” at the Opernhaus Zürich.

During the 1988-89 season he was named Music Director of the Basel Opera. With the company, he solidified his status as a conductor of modern works and gave the world premiere of Luca Lombardi’s “Faust. Un travestimento.” He stayed with the company until 1993.

During this time he also performed regularly at the opera houses in Dresden, Hamburg, and Munich. He also made debuts at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and San Francisco Opera.

Boder made he his Wiener Staatsoper debut in 1995 and went on to have a successful career in the theater. He conducted such operas as Strauss’ “Die Frau ohne Schatten” and “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Berg’s “Lulu,” Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” and Hindemith’s “Cardillac.”

He also led performances at the Theater an der Wien, Royal Opera House, Staatsoper Berlin, Munich Opera Festival, and became the General Music Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona from 2008 to 2012. He was also the Chief Conductor of the Royal Danish Opera.

As noted Boder was a conductor who specialized in contemporary music and led premieres of such works Schönberg’s “Die Jakobsleiter,” Friedrich Cerha’s “Der Riese vom Steinfeld,” Aribert Reimann’s “Medea,” Georg Friedrich Haas’ “Morgen und Abend,” Penderecki’s “Ubu Rex,” Reimann’s “Das Schloß,” Manfred Trojahn’s “Was ihr wollt,” and Henze’s “Phaedra”

In a review for OperaWire, Boder’s conducting was described as a “display faithful to what this music intended in creating an overall picture and shunning nuance.”