Friedrich Haider studied at the Music Academy in Vienna with Karl Osetrreicher and participated in masterclasses at the Mozarteum Salzburg with Milan Horvat. In 1979, at the age of 18, he was awarded the National Composing Prize of Austria by Gottfried von Einem. In 1984 he made his conducting debut with Johann Strauss' Wiener Blut in Klagenfurt. In the 1987/88 season he Assistant Music Director at the Stuttgart Staatsoper. Conducting engagements followed including Don Giovanni in Hamburg, Tristan und Isolde and Faust in Nice, Ariadne auf Naxos in Bilbao, Roberto Devereaux at the Dresden Festival, Der Fliegende Hollander in Barcelona, La boheme in Stockholm, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, I Capuleti e I Montecchi, and L'Elisir d'Amore - all in Bonn, Die Zauberflöte and Ariadne auf Naxos in Montpellier, Le nozze di Figaro in Aix-en-Provence, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci in Tenerife, and Rigoletto in Prague.
In 1990, Friedrich Haider debuted at the Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg with Hänsel und Gretel, and was subsequently appointed as Chief Conductor until 1995. He has conducted performances there including La traviata, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, The Merry Widow, Madama Butterfly and Salome, and also a concert performance of Richard Strauss' Complete Orchestral Songs. Upcoming operatic engagements include Die Fledermaus in Hamburg, Lohengrin in Barcelona, Die Walküre at the Wagner Festival in Fels, Austria, Salome in Budapest and Die Fledermaus in Trieste.
Apart from his activities in the operatic field Friedrich Haider has conducted many symphonic programs, frequently featuring the works of Richard Strauss. Among the orchestras he has led are the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Hungarian State Orchestra, the Leipzig Radio Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic, the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Gothenburg Symphony, both the Munich Radio Orchestra and Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Residenz Orchestra den Haag, Gürzenich Orchester in Cologne, the Chamber Orchestra of Stockholm, and the Amsterdam Radio Chamber Orchestra. He was recently appointed Permanent Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Pomeriggi Musicali Milano. Future engagements include appearances with the Munich Symphony Orchestra in Munich and Salzburg, the Leipzig Philharmonic Orchestra in the Gewandhaus (Schumann: Symphony No. 1), and the Slovak Philharmonic (Alpine Symphony).
Recordings include Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony with the Gothenburg Symphony, Ein Heldenleben with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Humoristic Strauss with the Gothenburg Symphony, Donizetti's Roberto Devereux , Die Fledermaus and Linda di Chamounix - both on Nightingale Classics, Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with Rainer Trost, and an operatic recital with Vesselina Kasarova and the Munich Radio Orchestra on RCA.
In addition, he has accompanied such artists as Victoria de los Angeles, Edita Gruberova, Vesselina Kasarova, Charlotte Margiono, Gösta Winbergh, Roberto Scandiuzzi, and Rainer Trost in Lieder recitals throughout Europe and Japan.
