Conductor and pianist Friedrich Haider is a notable figure in both opera and orchestral music. In the former field, he has specialized in the works of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and in bel canto opera. Haider made dual debuts in 1984, conducting a performance of Johann Strauss II's Wiener Blut in Klagenfurt and leading the Wiener Kammerorchester in Vienna. In 1991, Haider became one of the youngest music directors in the history of the Opera National du Rhin. His recording career began that year when he backed soprano Edita Gruberová on an album of lieder by Richard Strauss. After finding a score of Wolf-Ferrari's opera Il segreto di Susanna in a secondhand bookshop, he began to conduct that composer's works; he has also worked on editions of Wolf-Ferrari's music and is a leading authority on it. His recording of Wolf-Ferrari's complete overtures and intermezzi appeared in 2021.