Vienna Philharmonic Announces 2024 Honorary Members

Conductors Franz Welser-Möst and Christian Thielemann have been appointed honorary members of the orchestra

The Vienna Philharmonic has named Austrian conductor Franz Welser-Möst and German conductor Christian Thielemann as its honorary members. The two artists join other conductors who have held the title, including the late Bernard Haitink and Seiji Ozawa. 

Thielemann has enjoyed a close musical partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic since 2000 and has since twice conducted the orchestra’s New Year’s Concert. 

Regularly leading the orchestra’s subscription concerts in the Vienna Musikverein, at the Salzburg Festival, and on international tours, Thielemann’s latest project with them includes recording all 11 of Bruckner’s symphonies — a first in the Vienna Phil’s recording history.

“We [have] enjoyed a deep artistic partnership with Christian Thielemann for many years, particularly in the symphonic sector, and he is one of the Philharmonic conductors who is closest to the orchestra,” wrote the orchestra’s chairman Daniel Froschauer in the press release, emphasizing Thielemann's prominent role with the orchestra. 

Currently the music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Welser-Möst is also an honorary member of Vienna’s Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, plus a winner of the Vienna Phil’s Honorary Ring, the Kilenyi Medal of the Bruckner Society of America, and of the Kennedy Center’s Gold Medal in the Arts. 

In 2020, Welser-Möst was awarded the Salzburg Festival Ruby Pin and in 2021, he was awarded the Austrian Music Theatre Prize for Elektra at the Salzburg Festival in the category of “Best Musical Direction.”

His collaboration with Vienna Phil began in 1998 and since then, has led the orchestra in subscription concerts in the Musikverein and on tours to Japan, China, Europe, and the USA, and conducted three New Year's Concerts. 

“The historic memorial concerts in Sarajevo in 2014 and Versailles in 2018 were performed under [Welser-Möst’s] baton, and he has regularly conducted the orchestra in opera and concert performances at the Salzburg Festival,” Froschauer added in another press release. “Honorary membership is not only awarded to musical artists, but also to individuals who share personal bonds of friendship with the orchestra. For many years now, Franz Welser-Möst has been one of us.”