Christina Pluhar (

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, 1965) is an Austrian

theorbist The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending out ...

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orc ...

, conductor, and director of

L'Arpeggiata L'Arpeggiata is a European early music group led by Christina Pluhar, and founded by her in 2000. The group has presented both traditional early music and also several collaged and themed performances and recordings. The group focuses on Italian, ...

ensemble.Herz Europas "Christina Pluhar ist eine der innovativsten Musikerinnen der Alte-Musik-Szene, die in ihren Projekten die Grenzen der Musikstile überschreitet und damit wie kaum ein anderer Künstler überzeugt." After studies at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The unive ...

, Christina Pluhar recognised her passion for ancient music. From then on, she devoted herself to playing the

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ou ...

and

baroque guitar The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string. History The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lut ...

. She gained her knowledge at the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire ( nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherl ...

and at the

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance. Faculty at the school have organized performing ensembles that have ...

. Her teachers included

Toyohiko Satoh is a Japanese lutenist and composer. Life and career At Rikkyo University in Tokyo, Satoh studied music history with Tatsuo Minagawa and guitar with Kazuhito Ohosawa. He gave his first guitar recital in the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan concert hall in 1965 ...

, Eugen Dombois,

Hopkinson Smith Hopkinson Smith (born December 7, 1946) is an American lutenist and pedagogue, longtime resident in Basel, Switzerland. Smith was born in New York City, the son of architectural writer and photographer G. E. Kidder Smith. He graduated from Har ...

Paul O'Dette Paul Raymond O'Dette (born February 2, 1954) is an American lutenist, conductor, and musicologist specializing in early music. Biography O'Dette, who was born in Pittsburgh, began playing the electric guitar in a rock band in Columbus, Ohio, w ...

, Pat O'Brian and Jesper Bøje Christensen. She learned to play the baroque Arpa Doppia at the Scuola Civica di Milano with

Mara Galassi Mara Galassi (born 1956, in Milan) is an Italian harpist, musicologist and recording artist specializing in the music for Early harps, including Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque, in particular double (cross-strung) and triple harps of the Renaissan ...

. In 1992, as a member of the

Ensemble La Fenice Ensemble La Fenice is a period wind band based in the town of Auxerre in the Burgundy region of France. Founded in 1990 by the cornett player Jean Tubéry, the ensemble specializes in music of the Baroque era played on period instruments In the ...

, she received the first prize at the Festival of Early Music in Malmö. Since then she has been living in Paris and performing as a soloist and as a

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

player in the baroque scene. With her ensemble

, founded in 2000, she plays at international festivals and makes recordings. In addition to her activities as a musician and ensemble director, Christina Pluhar has been teaching baroque harp at the

since 1999 and gives master classes at the University of Graz.

Discography

Albums

* 2004: ''Landi: homo fugit velut umbra'' * 2004: ''Al Improvviso: Ciaconne, Bergamasche et un po' di folie'' * 2004: ''Kapsberger: La Villanella'' * 2004: ''La Tarantella: antidotum tarantulae'' * 2005: ''Cavalieri: rappresentatione di anima et di corpo'' * 2007: ''Los Impossibles'' * 2009: ''Monteverdi: Teatro d'Amore'' * 2010: ''Via Crucis'' * 2011: ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' * 2012: ''Los Pajaros Perdidos'' * 2013: ''Mediterraneo'' * 2014: ''Music for a While'' * 2015: ''Cavalli: L'amore innamorato'' * 2016: ''Orfeo Chamán'' * 2017: ''Händel Goes Wild'' * 2018: ''Himmelsmusik'' * 2021: ''Alla Napoletana’'' * References {{DEFAULTSORT:Pluhar, Christina 1965 births Living people Theorbists Women conductors (music) 20th-century Austrian conductors (music) 21st-century Austrian conductors (music) Musicians from Graz University of Graz alumni 20th-century women musicians 21st-century women musicians Women performers of early music Musicians from Paris Erato Records artists