{{Short description|English choral conductor and opera director}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}} {{Use British English|date=February 2014}} {{Infobox person | name = Howard Arman | image = Arman Howard (cropped).jpg | caption = Howard Arman in 2018 | birth_date = 1954 | birth_place = London | death_date = | death_place = | education = Trinity College of Music | occupation = {{plainlist| * Choral conductor * Opera director * Festival director * Academic teacher }} | organization = {{plainlist| * RIAS Kammerchor * Handel Festival, Halle * Mozarteum }} | awards = Handel Prize }} '''Howard Arman''' (born 1954 in London) is an English choral conductor and opera director. He won the Handel Prize of the Handel Festival, Halle, in 1996, shaped the festival's orchestra and conducted operas of George Frideric Handel. He is a conductor of the Theater and Philharmonie Thüringen, also the Luzerner Theater. Since 2017 he is the director of the Bayerische Rundfunk Chor.
== Career == Howard Arman studied at the Trinity College of Music in London. He first worked with leading British ensembles, but moved to Austria and Germany in 1981.<ref name="Bach">[http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Arman-Howard.htm Howard Arman (Conductor)] bach-cantatas.com</ref>
Arman has conducted (among others) the radio choirs of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the Südwestrundfunk, the Österreichischer Rundfunk and the RIAS Kammerchor. From 1983 to 2000 he was the leader of the Salzburger Bach-Chor and since 1998 he has been director and artistic leader of the MDR Rundfunkchor, the choir of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR).<ref>[http://www.mdr.de/klangkoerper/123280.html Chordirektor Howard Arman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502105115/http://www.mdr.de/klangkoerper/123280.html |date=2 May 2008 }} MDR {{in lang|de}}</ref> He is general music director of Theater and Philharmonie Thüringen for the 2010/2011 season<ref>[http://www.nmz.de/kiz/nachrichten/howard-arman-wird-neuer-generalmusikdirektor-von-theaterphilharmonie-thueringen Howard Arman wird neuer Generalmusikdirektor von Theater&Philharmonie Thüringen] Neue Musik Zeitung (trade paper), 29 March 2009 {{in lang|de}}</ref> and musical director of the Lucerne theatre for three years from the 2011/12 season onwards. Since 2010/11 he has been the musical leader of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester (LSO), with James Gaffigan as the LSO's conductor.<ref>[http://www.nmz.de/kiz/nachrichten/mdr-chordirektor-howard-arman-ab-201011-auch-musikdirektor-am-luzerner-theater MDR-Chordirektor Howard Arman ab 2010/11 auch Musikdirektor am Luzerner Theater] Neue Musik Zeitung, 16 April 2010 {{in lang|de}}</ref>
In 1984 he prepared the Tölzer Knabenchor for a recording of Bach's ''Mass in B minor'' with Andrew Parrott and the Taverner Consort and Players<ref name="Bach" /> Starting in 1993 he shaped the Händel-Festspielorchester, the orchestra of the Handel Festival, on period instruments,<ref>[http://www.halle.de/de/Kultur-Tourismus/Haendel-Stadt/Erleben/Einrichtungen/ Händel-Festspielorchester] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223231658/http://www.halle.de/de/Kultur-Tourismus/Haendel-Stadt/Erleben/Einrichtungen/ |date=23 December 2010 }} Halle (Saale)</ref> which earned him the Festival's Handel Prize of 1996.<ref name="Winners of the Handel Prize">[http://www.haendelfestspiele.halle.de/de/festspiele/haendelpreis/galerie.html Winners of the Handel Prize]</ref> He conducted Handel's opera ''Tolomeo'' in 1996 at the festival, probably the first production and recording of the work with period instruments.<ref>[http://www.omm.de/veranstaltungen/festspiele/HAL-96kritik.html Händel-Festspiele in Halle 1996 6. - 11. Juni Festspielkritik] Online Musik Magazin {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://gfhandel.org/reviews/hwv025mm.htm Tolomeo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123121129/http://gfhandel.org/reviews/hwv025mm.htm |date=23 November 2010 }} gfhandel.org</ref> In 2000 he recorded Rachmaninoff's ''All-Night Vigil'' with the MDR-Rundfunkchor. In 2005 Arman conducted Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas'' at the Luzerner Theater.<ref>[http://www.bernhard-landauer.at/?p=1930 Dido and Aeneas] Bernhard Landauer</ref> In 2006 Arman conducted Handel's opera ''Admeto'' at the Handel Festival, directed by Axel Köhler and recorded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=101258 |title=Handel, G.F.: Admeto (Handel-Festival Halle, 2006) |year=2009 |accessdate=31 January 2011 |publisher=Naxos}}</ref> In 2009 he recorded in the Marktkirche in Halle, the church where Handel was baptized, the opening concert of the ''Handel Special Day'', a collaboration of 40 broadcasters. Four choirs and two orchestras reconstructed a memorial concert, held for the composer in 1784 in Westminster Abbey, including ''Zadok the Priest'' (one of Handel's Coronation Anthems).<ref>[http://salikus.de/halle-nachrichten/kultur/handel-special-day_ganz-europa-jubelt-haendel-zu/069d3bb002acd8d7dd095917f9efe4cb-580/ Handel Special Day: Ganz Europa jubelt Händel zu] salikus.de {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.gewandhaus.de/gwh.site,postext,gewandhaus-magazin,artikel_id,2940.html?PHPSESSID=hgmddadq&PHPSESSID=hgmddadq »Das ist unser aller Ziel als Musiker: Musik zu vergegenwärtigen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718175255/http://www.gewandhaus.de/gwh.site,postext,gewandhaus-magazin,artikel_id,2940.html?PHPSESSID=hgmddadq&PHPSESSID=hgmddadq |date=18 July 2011 }} Interview, Gewandhaus {{in lang|de}}</ref> In 2010 Arman conducted Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'' at the Luzerner Theater, directed by David Herrmann.<ref>[http://www.luzernertheater.ch/spielplan/spielzeit/stueck_8440.html Le nozze di Figaro]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Luzerner Theater {{in lang|de}}</ref> Arman recorded Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's ''Marienvesper 1693'' (Vesperae longiores ac breviores (1693), a setting of the Vespers), with the Salzburger Bach-Chor.<ref>[https://www.allaboutjazz.com/heinrich-ignaz-franz-biber-marienvesper-1693-salzburger-bachchoir-salzburger-barockensemble-howard-arman-ars-musici-review-by-c-michael-bailey Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber – Marienvesper 1693] www.allaboutjazz.com</ref>
Arman has been a professor at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.<ref name="Bach" /> Since 2017 he is the director of the Bayerische Rundfunk Chor.
== Selected recordings == * Howard Arman: Metamorphosen – MDR-Rundfunkchor (MDR Klassik, 2013) * Johann Sebastian Bach: Motetten – Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks und die Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (BR-Klassik, 2018) * Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Marienvesper – Salzburger Barockensemble und der Salzburger Bachchor (Ars Musici, 1996) * Thomas Buchholz: Kammersinfonie VIII – Händelfestspielorchester Halle (Thorofon Classics, 1998) * Antonín Dvořák: Stabat Mater – Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BR-Klassik, 2019) * Carl Heinrich Graun: Der Tod Jesu – MDR Rundfunkchor und das MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra (MDR Edition, 2004) * Georg Friedrich Händel: Occasional Oratorio – Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks und die Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (BR-Klassik, 2017) * Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Psalmen – Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks und das Munich Radio Orchestra (BR-Klassik, 2017) * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Große Messe in c-Moll – Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks und das Munich Radio Orchestra (BR-Klassik, 2018) * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem – Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks und das Munich Radio Orchestra (BR-Klassik, 2020) * Claudio Monteverdi: Vesper zum Fest Christi Himmelfahrt – Schütz-Akademie (Capriccio, 1996) * Sergei Rachmaninoff: Vespers – MDR Rundfunkchor (Berlin Classics, 2002) * Gioachino Rossini: Stabat Mater – Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks und das Munich Radio Orchestra (Sony Classical, 2018) * Heinrich Schütz: Musikalische Exequien – Schütz-Akademie (Berlin Classics, 2005) * Robert Schumann: Chorwerke – MDR Rundfunkchor (MDR Edition, 2005) * Othmar Schoeck: Chorwerke – MDR Rundfunkchor (Claves Records, 2007)
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == *[http://www.howardarman.com/ Howard Arman] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124225208/http://www.howardarman.com/ |date=24 January 2011 }} website
{{Handel Prize}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arman, Howard}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:British opera directors Category:English male conductors (music) Category:Alumni of Trinity College of Music Category:English directors Category:Handel Prize winners Category:21st-century English conductors (music) Category:21st-century English male musicians