Biography
Canadian-Romanian conductor Andrei Feher has earned a reputation for his musical maturity and integrity, natural authority on the podium, and an imaginative and intelligent approach to programming. He is hailed for his “ability to connect with his players, using their skills as if they were the piano and he the pianist” (The Record).
Feher regularly appears with top Canadian and European orchestras. His noteworthy 2019 debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, performing Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss, was recorded and airs on BBC Radio 3. Subscription appearances include Symphony Nova Scotia, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta sinfónica RTVE Madrid, and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. Additional highlights include appearances as guest conductor with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Les Violons du Roy, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal and Romanian Radio National Orchestra.
Feher’s 2023/24 Season marked debut appearances at Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Enescu Festival in Bucharest and at Orchestre Symphonique de Laval.
In 2018, at age 26, Feher was appointed Music Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, making him one of the youngest to lead a major Canadian orchestra. During his five-year tenure as Music Director, Feher is credited with seeing the Orchestra through pandemic closures with 12 full-orchestra online programs and transforming the symphony’s relationship with French speakers in the region and beyond. Performance highlights under his artistic direction include Carmen, La Traviata, and Mahler’s Second Symphony, with numerous sold-out shows held at the Raffi Armenian Theatre within the Centre In The Square, a concert hall seating over 2,000.
Having gained early experience as assistant to Fabien Gabel at the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, at the age of 22 Feher joined the Orchestre de Paris as Assistant Conductor to its Music Director, Paavo Järvi. During this time he collaborated with conductors including Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Christoph von Dohnányi and Jaap van Zweden. Feher has collaborated with some of today’s most eminent performers including Emanuel Ax, Marc André Hamelin and Erin Wall. In 2013, he was awarded the Prix-Opus Discovery of the Year.
A strong advocate of contemporary music, Feher has recently performed works by Eric Champagne, Pierre Mercure, George Dimitrov, Ciprian Pop and Abigail Richardson, as well as the world premiere of Thierry Besancon’s opera for children Les Zoocrates with Opéra de Lausanne. In November 2015, Feher conducted the world premiere of Soleil Noir by Pierre Jodlowski with the Orchestre de Pau-Béarn, which resulted in an immediate invitation to conduct the work in Toulouse in November 2016.
Born in Romania into a family of musicians, Feher began his musical education as a violinist in his hometown Satu-Mare with Nagy Margareta before continuing his studies in Montréal at age 13 when his family immigrated to Canada. An accomplished violinist, he studied at Joseph-François-Perrault and at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Johanne Arel and Raffi Armenian. Feher is based in Montréal with his wife and two young sons.