In memoriam Igor Ozim

Igor Ozim was a versatile, passionate pedagogue and virtuoso of his instrument. Together with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, he initiated today's Leopold Mozart Institute for the Promotion of Highly Gifted Students in 2004 and influenced generations of students, some of whom are now teachers at the Mozarteum University themselves. He has also imparted his enormous knowledge and extensive repertoire in a large number of masterclasses and as part of his jury activities.

Andreas Weber, Director of the Leopold Mozart Institute, remembers their collaboration:

With the internationally highly renowned violin pedagogue Igor Ozim and the equally highly respected piano pedagogue Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, I was able to initiate the promotion of highly gifted students at the Mozarteum University in 2004.

In 2006, the 250th anniversary of W.A. Mozart's birth, the Leopold Mozart Institute was founded at the Mozarteum University. During our collaboration, Mr Igor Ozim always appeared to me to consistently support the students in all their artistic and human challenges with his incomparable, almost timeless emphatic professionalism, combined with an extremely alert sense of humour.

I will also never forget the touching way in which his involvement in the entrance examinations, including those relating to aural training, was so enthusiastically engaging that at times the role of examiner and examinee seemed to merge.

I look back with great gratitude on this time of encounters with Prof Igor Ozim.

The Mozarteum University mourns the loss of an exceptional artist, colleague and teacher. It will always remember him with gratitude and honour.

A memorial concert for Igor Ozim will take place on 5 June 2024 at 17:00 in the Solitär (Mirabellplatz 1).