Conductor and composer Omer Meir Wellber became a fast-rising figure in the 2010s decade on European operatic and orchestral scenes, as well as in his native Israel, with appearances at some of Europe's top opera houses. In 2018, he was named chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Wellber was born on October 28, 1981, in Beersheba (Be'er Sheva), Israel. At age five, he began taking lessons on accordion and piano, continuing on both instruments for many years. Wellber showed talent as a composer, and at age nine, he began studies with Tania Taler. He attended the Conservatory of Music in Beersheba, graduating in 1999 and going on for further composition studies with composer Michael Wolpe. That year, Wellber won a scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation that enabled him to enroll for studies at the Jerusalem Music Academy. There, he took conducting and composition courses from Eugene Zirlin, graduating in 2008 in the conducting program of Mendi Rodan. By that time, Wellber was already an experienced conductor and composer. In 2004, he made his conducting debut with Israel's Raanana Symphonette Orchestra (which named him music director in 2009), and his Viola Concerto was premiered by the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Between 2005 and 2008, he conducted a series of standard-repertory operas at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. Wellber's breakthrough in Europe were his appointments in 2008 as assistant to Daniel Barenboim at La Scala and in 2010 as music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia opera house, especially unusual in that he had not conducted the company prior to being hired. That proved to be a springboard to numerous guest conducting appearances around Europe and North America, including those with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester in the 2014-2015 season, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2015-2016, and the Houston Symphony in 2017-2018. In 2017, Wellber made his recording debut, leading the London Philharmonic as it backed violinist Augustin Hadelich in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35. Wellber made his debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2018-2019 and was a guest at many other top opera houses, including La Scala in Milan (where he lives with his family) and the Semperoper in Dresden, Germany. A single appearance in March of 2018 led to his being named chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic. He also holds several major operatic posts: music director of the Teatro Massimo di Palermo (since 2020), principal guest conductor of the Semperoper (since 2018), and, beginning in 2022, music director of the Volksoper in Vienna. With the BBC Philharmonic in 2020, Wellber recorded the album Music of Israel: Paul Ben-Haim, and he returned in 2022 with a pair of releases, Vivaldi & Piazzolla: The Mandolin Seasons (with members of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester) and Pop Songs, a recital by cellist Jan Vogler with the BBC Philharmonic. ~ James Manheim, Rovi