Otto-Werner Mueller
Otto-Werner Mueller (23 June 1926 – 25 February 2016) was a German-born conductor. He was a professor of conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, as well as at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Mueller was born in Bensheim, Germany. After being pardoned by the Allied Forces Tribunal in Germany following World War II, he became director of the chamber music department at Radio Stuttgart at age 19, and was on the staff of the Heidelberg Theatre.[1] He also founded and conducted an orchestra for families of US military personnel stationed in Germany.[2] He emigrated to Canada in 1951 and worked as pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and soon began teaching at the Montreal Conservatory. His first professional work in Canada was as a composer for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, writing music for daytime soap operas.
Among his appointments were at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, the Yale School of Music in New Haven, Connecticut, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Victoria School of Music in British Columbia. At Yale, he was director of the Yale Philharmonia from 1973 to 1987.[3] He began teaching on the faculty of the Curtis Institute in the fall of 1986, and made his public conducting debut in Philadelphia in April 1987.[4] He served on the Curtis faculty until his retirement in 2013.[2] Some of his notable students include conductors Alan Gilbert, Alasdair Neale, Robert Hart Baker, Gary Fagin, David Hayes, Sarah Ioannides, Paavo Järvi, Jere Lance, Jahja Ling, André Raphel, Kaye George Roberts, Richard Rosenberg, Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Ransom Wilson. He was also an opera repertory coach for mezzo-soprano Huguette Tourangeau and soprano Colette Boky.
Mueller died in Charlotte, North Carolina, on 25 February 2016 at the age of 89. His 56-year marriage to his wife Margarethe (Marga Burchart Mueller) produced three sons, Bernie, Michael, and Peter. His sons survive him, as do his second wife, Virginia Allen, his grandchildren Christina, Peter, and Sophie, and his brother, nephew, and niece.[2][3]
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