Erich Wächter studied conducting, piano and song accompaniment at the State Academy of Music in Berlin (now University of the Arts).
While still a student he became assistant to the music director of the famous Berlin “Singakademie zu Berlin”.
His professional career as a conductor began in 1969 at the Kaiserslautern Opera. From 1974 to 1977 he worked at the Saarbrücken State Opera as Kapellmeister of the opera and Music Director of the Saarbrücken City Choir. During this time, he also worked as musical assistant at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth.
In 1977 he was offered a position at the Baden State Opera in Karlsruhe as Kapellmeister. He was also extensively engaged as guest conductor at the Hessian State Opera in Wiesbaden, where he conducted operas including “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”, “Der Rosenkavalier”, “Carmen”, “La forza del destino” and “Die Zauberflöte”. Alongside these conducting engagements, he lectured on conducting at the Karlsruhe State Music Academy.
Since 1985, Erich Wächter has served as First Kapellmeister of the Darmstadt State Opera. During this time, he became a regular guest conductor at the Zurich Opera and the National Theatre in Mannheim.
From 1987 he held the post of First Kapellmeister at the National Theatre Mannheim until his appointment as General Music Director and Opera Director in Lübeck in 1989. Here he was also responsible for conducting classes at the State Music Academy and was head of the academic orchestra.
As a guest conductor he has worked at the opera houses of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Cologne, Stockholm, etc. His extensive concert activity took him to the orchestras of Wiesbaden, Kassel, Hamburg, Dortmund, Nuremberg, Freiburg, the radio orchestras of Berlin, Munich, Cologne, etc. Erich Wächter now serves as general music director of the Detmold Opera and first guest conductor at the Bonn Opera.
