Alexander Soddy

Conductor Alexander Soddy has spent much of his career in Germany, conducting orchestral ensembles as well as opera. As the conductor of the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim, he has brought that regional ensemble to a new level of prominence. Soddy was born in Oxford on December 20, 1982, and had his first formal musical experiences as a member of the Chapel Choir of Magdalen College at Oxford University. He attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, studying conducting, voice, and piano. Soddy went on to Cambridge University for a degree in musicology and analysis, financing his studies with a choral scholarship at Cambridge's Selwyn College. Soddy graduated in 2004 and quickly found his job as a répétiteur (a rehearsal conductor) at London's National Opera Studio. He moved to the Hamburg State Opera for a similar position in 2005, and since then, he has worked mostly in Germany. Soddy moved up to first assistant to the general director in Hamburg, and then, from 2010 to 2012, to Kapellmeister or music director. During this period, he made debuts as a guest conductor with the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, and the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. Soddy also assisted conductor Kirill Petrenko in a new production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Opera House. After conducting Weber's Der Freischütz and Mozart's Idomeneo at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, he became the chief conductor at that house from 2014 to 2016. Once again, a new round of high-profile guest appearances led to a new position: Soddy made debuts at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Semperoper in Dresden, and the English National Opera, and then became the general music director of Nationaltheater Mannheim. This position entailed not only operatic performances but also leadership of the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim, which Soddy led to a new contract with the Oehms Classics label. He conducted the orchestra in its debut recording, a performance of Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie. ~ James Manheim