General manager of the Vienna State Opera. Born in Timisoara (Romania), he initially studied steam engineering. For political reasons, in 1956 he was expelled from all universities in Romania. He worked as a tennis instructor and an assistant film director. He began studying singing in 1959, moving to Vienna in the same year and continuing his vocal studies at the conservatory, from which he graduated in 1962. In 1962-1966 he started a career as an opera and concert singer. He sang for two seasons at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt before entering the Starka Concert Agency which he later acquired and transformed into the renowned Concert Agency Holender.

   In 1988 he was appointed general secretary of the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper. In 1992, after the unforeseen death of Eberhard Waechter, he became the general manager of both opera houses. Four years later, he retired as general manager of the Vienna Volksoper. His contract with the Vienna State Opera runs until the year 2010. He is a guest lecturer at the University of Vienna and a jury member of many international vocal competitions. He has received honorary doctorates from the Gheorghe Dima Academy of Music in Cluj, the music universities of Bucharest and Timisoara, and the academy of Music in Sofia. He is a recipient of numerous medals, including a Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria, a Gold Medal for Meritorious Service to the State of Vienna, an Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art First Class, and has been appointed Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Republic.

   He is an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper. He has received a Clemens Krauss Medal from the Vienna State Opera Chorus, and a Franz Schalk Medal from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He is an honorary citizen of his native town Timisoara. During the first tour of the Vienna State Opera in Bucharest, the Romanian president presented him with the country's most important medal. In December 2002 he received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria. He has written an autobiography, Ioan Holender – Der Lebensweg des Wiener Staatsoperndirektors, published by Böhlau Verlag Wien (2001). In May 2005 he was awarded the Europäischer Kultur Initiativ Preis of the European Foundation for Culture Pro Europa.

 

Photo: Archive