Wolfgang Holzmair

Lektor for work & style studies⋅Department Vocal Studies

In addition to major works of oratorio literature, Wolfgang Holzmair pays special attention in his work with his students to the song oeuvre of the masters of the Viennese Classical period (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven), to Franz Schubert, to all the masters of the German Lied and French mélodie from Schumann to Schönberg, from Fauré to Debussy, as well as to the recognition of larger contexts in special projects. In this way, he would also like to promote interest in the creation of artistically valuable programs as well as their development in personal responsibility.

Wolfgang Holzmair studied economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Mag.rer.soc.oec.) and singing (Hilde Rössel-Majdan) and song (Erik Werba) at the Vienna University of Music. He earned his master's degree at the Mozarteum University with a thesis on the largely unknown composer Max Kowalski. As a lieder singer, the artist has made regular guest appearances in the world's leading music centers, such as in London, Lisbon, Moscow, New York, Seoul and Washington , at the Risör Festival (Norway), at the festivals in Bath, Belfast and Edinburgh (GB), at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland), the Bregenz Festival, the Styriarte and at the Carinthian Summer (Austria) together with leading lied pianists of his time. The symbiotic collaboration with the British pianist Imogen Cooper should be particularly emphasized here. In opera roles he interpreted, among others, Papageno and Sprecher (Magic Flute), Guglielmo and Don Alfonso (Cosí fan tutte), several roles from operas by Joseph Haydn, Wolfram (Tannhäuser ), harlequin and music teacher ( Ariadne auf Naxos ), Faninal ( Rosenkavalier ), Olivier and Graf ( Capriccio ), father ( Hansel and Gretel ), Valentin ( Faust ), Eisenstein and Dr. Falke ( Fledermaus ), Danilo ( Merry Widow ), Pelléas ( Pelléas et Mélisande , Debussy), Demetrius ( A Midsummer Night's Dream , Britten ), Hans Scholl ( Weisse Rose , Udo Zimmermann ) and Eduard ( Neues vom Tage , Hindemith ). Wolfgang Holzmair has worked with leading European and American orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Concertgebouw under conductors such as Blomstedt, Boulez, Chailly, I. Fischer, Frühbeck de Burgos, Haitink, Harnoncourt, Norrington, Ozawa etc. Extensive and critically acclaimed recording activities in the field of opera and concert (including Grammy award for Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem under Herbert Blomstedt). Around 50 solo CDs (songs, French melodies from Joseph Haydn to Ernst Krenek and the most important French composers). For years he has been particularly committed to the works of formerly persecuted, "degenerate" composers, as evidenced by his Mittler, Zeisl, Schreker, Krenek, Kowalski and Theresienstadt CDs. Since 1998, Holzmair has been the director of a Lied & Oratorio class at the Mozarteum University. He has held master classes in Europe, North America and Asia and has been a juror at prestigious competitions (Cardiff, Montreal, Oslo, London-Wigmore Hall). He was also artistic advisor and curator of several concert series. From autumn 2014 to early 2019, Holzmair was director of the International Summer Academy Mozarteum Salzburg with significant reforms in the artistic, pedagogical and administrative areas.