He is an orchestral conductor born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Austrian parents. He started to study the violin when he was six and by the time he was fifteen he was studying conducting at the Vienna Musikhochschule.
He won first prize in a conducting competition in 1984 and debuted in 1985 with the NDR Symphony Orchestra. In 1987 he became music director of the Hamburg Symphony, followed by the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Anhaltisches Theatre in Dessau, Germany.
In 2000 he made his British debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and has since appeared with many other orchestras in Britain. He has conducted many symphony and opera orchestras including the Hamburg and Vienna State Operas, Berlin Radio Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony, been Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival and joined the Spanish RTVE Symphony Orchestra as their Music Director in September 2011. He has been the Music Director of the Oregon Symphony since 2003.
He has made several acclaimed recordings and has received international acclaim from many musical critics.
BBC Scottish Symphony recordings
Cello Concerto in C major, (Mateo Albeniz)
Hyperion 67544 (CD: The Romantic Cello Concerto-1)
Conductor – Carlos Kalmar
Cello – Alban Gerhardt
(This recording was made from a concert in Caird Hall, Dundee on the 17th and 18th December 2004 and won a 2006 Midem Classical Award.)
Here he is talking about Romeo and Juliet …
Sources:
- http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Kalmar-Carlos.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Kalmar
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/1956953-Carlos-Kalmar
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/carlos-kalmar-mn0002180854/biography