About me

Ruben Hawer Dirigent/Conductor

Ruben Hawer was born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1998. He began studying violin at the age of seven, and by fifteen, he took part in the orchestra academy of the Belgian National Orchestra. He also sang professionally for eight years with the children's choir of the Flemish Opera, taking on major solo roles as a boy soprano. These early experiences gave him the opportunity to collaborate with some of Belgium’s finest orchestras.

In 2014, he was awarded the "Topcultuurstatuut," by the Belgian Ministry of Culture, a distinction for exceptionally talented young artists. This recognition enabled him to pursue a bachelor's degree in violin at the LUCA School of Arts Leuven under Elisa Kawaguti, alongside his humanistic high school education in Ancient Greek and Mathematics.

In 2018, Ruben Hawer shifted his focus to conducting and moved to Salzburg. At the University Mozarteum, he studied orchestral conducting with Ion Marin, Bruno Weil, Alexander Drcar, Johannes Kalitzke and Reinhard Goebel, as well as choral conducting with Jörn Andresen and Karl Kamper. He further enriched his education by participating in masterclasses with Alan Gilbert, Alexander Soddy, Vladimir Fedoseev, Maxim Vengerov, and Antoni Ros Marba.

As a conductor, Ruben Hawer has worked with ensembles including the Bad Reichenhall Philharmoniker, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, österreichischen Ensemble für neue Musik (OENM), Ensemble Multilatérale, the New Art and Music Ensemble Salzburg (NAMES), the Symphony Orchestra of the University Mozarteum, and the Savaria Szimfonikus Zenekar-Orchester. He has also assisted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and collaborated with the theater choirs of the Semperoper Dresden and the Gärtnerplatztheater Munich.

Currently, Ruben serves as chief conductor of both the Junges Mozart Orchester and the Mozart Kinderorchester Salzburg. He is also choral director and assistant conductor at the Theater Hof (Germany), where he was entrusted with the musical direction of Peterchens Mondfahrt and has conducted several performances of different productions, including Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Humperdinck’s Dornröschen.