Alexander Joel is a pianist and conductor.

He began his conducting career in Nürnberg, followed by positions at Baden bei Wien

Baden bei Wien

-Points of interest:The town offers several parks and a picturesque surrounding, of which the most frequented is the Helenental valley. Not far from Baden, the valley is crossed by a widespread aqueduct of the Vienna waterworks...

, Klagenfurt

Klagenfurt

-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...

 and the Vienna Volksoper

Vienna Volksoper

The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....

. From 2001 he held the position of musical director at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

The Deutsche Oper am Rhein is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company....

Joel has served as guest conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 for numerous orchestras in Europe and elsewhere, including the Bavarian State Opera

Bavarian State Opera

The Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...

, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany founded in 1548 by Kurfürst Moritz of Saxony. It is one of the world's oldest orchestras...

, the MDR Symphony Orchestra

MDR Symphony Orchestra

The MDR Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest Radio orchestras in the world and the oldest in Germany. It was founded in Leipzig, Germany in 1923 and therefore 9 months earlier than the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra...

, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester . It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra...

 and the Hamburg State Opera

Hamburg State Opera

The Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...

  (Hamburgische Staatsoper). Outside Germany, Joel has conducted at the Teatro Reggio in Parma

Parma

Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the Finnish National Opera

Finnish National Opera

The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...

, Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Municipal Theater of Santiago

Municipal Theater of Santiago

The Teatro Municipal is the most important stage theatre and opera house in Santiago, Chile.-History and overview:The Chilean government ceded a significant parcel of land in downtown Santiago to the municipality, in 1848, and an 1853 decree by President Manuel Montt Torres provided for the...

, Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées is a theatre at 15 avenue Montaigne. Despite its name, the theatre is not on the Champs-Élysées but nearby in another part of the 8th arrondissement of Paris....

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, among others.

Since the 2007/2008 season Alexander Joel is the musical director (Generalmusikdirektor) of Staatstheater Braunschweig

Staatstheater Braunschweig

Staatstheater Braunschweig is a theatre and opera house in Braunschweig, Germany. Joachim Klement has been the intendant there since 2010.The Staatstheater comprises music theatre, ballet and theatre....

 and principal conductor of Staatsorchester Braunschweig

Staatsorchester Braunschweig

The Staatsorchester Braunschweig is a German orchestra. It was founded in 1587 by Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel as his court orchestra. It worked with Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss. It lost its independence as a court orchestra in 1918 and became the orchestra of the Braunschweiger...

, succeeding Jonas Alber

Jonas Alber

Jonas Alber is a Berlin-based German conductor.-Education and early career:Alber studied violin and conducting in Freiburg and qualified as a conductor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He was awarded a scholarship by the Herbert von Karajan Foundation in 1995...

, who had led the orchestra since 1997.

Alexander Joel is the grandson of Karl Amson Joel

Karl Amson Joel

Karl Amson Joel was a German-Jewish textile merchant and manufacturer. He is the grandfather of conductor Alexander Joel and musician Billy Joel....

 and the half brother of singer/songwriter Billy Joel

Billy Joel

William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...

.

The relationship only came to light when Austrian film-maker Beate Thalberg was doing research for a documentary about Alexander Joel for a Vienna television station.

• Berns, Hajo, "Mozarts Schwanengesang", Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
  Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung
  The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung is a leading commercial newspaper from Essen, Germany, published by WAZ-Mediengruppe.It was founded by Erich Brost and first published 3 April 1948....
  
  , 17 April 2009, Accessed 27 October 2009 (in German).
• Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Alexander Joel.