Günter Pichler (born 9 September 1940) is an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

violinist, teacher and conductor. He was the 1st violin in the

Alban Berg Quartett The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after Alban Berg. Members Beginnings The Berg Quartet was founded in 1970 by four young professors of the Vienna Academy of Music, and made its debut in ...

Biography

Günter Pichler was born and raised in

Kufstein Kufstein (; Central Bavarian: ''Kufstoa'') is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 19,600 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The grea ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

.Nach Altmann, W.: ''Kurzgefasstes Tonkünstler-Lexikon'', 15. Aufl.: 2. T. He was accepted at the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

in 1955. He joined the

Vienna Symphony The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikverein and at the The ...

as concertmaster under

Wolfgang Sawallisch Wolfgang Sawallisch (26 August 1923 – 22 February 2013) was a German conductor and pianist. Biography Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich, the son of Maria and Wilhelm Sawallisch. His father was director of the Hamburg-Bremer-Feuerversich ...

at the age of 18. At 21, he was made concertmaster by the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

thanks to a tie-breaking vote on his appointment by conductor

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

. From 1963 to 2009 he taught at the

as a professor, from 1993 to 2012 he was a professor at Cologne University of Music. In 2007 he was appointed head of the department for chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. In addition he teaches at several summer academies, including Pro Quartet Paris, Accademia Chighiana Siena and the Misqua Montreal. Many of his students received international prizes, have become concert masters in important orchestras, or made a name for themselves with solo careers. Also among his students are musicians from many chamber music ensembles such as the

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

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, Belcea, Casals, Fauré, Eliot quartets, the Trio con brio, das Atos-, Eggner-, Morgenstern trios and up and coming ensembles such as the Acies, Amaryllis, Cavaleri, Finzi, Piatti, Minetti, Schumann, Voce and van Kuijk quartet. In 1970 Günter Pichler founded the

and was the first violin of this world famous string quartet until it disbanded in 2008. In addition to his work with the Alban Berg Quartett and as a teacher, Günter Pichler started a career as a conductor. He has since conducted many orchestras on concerts and on tour, including the

Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (Stuttgarter Kammerorchester) is a German chamber orchestra based in Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Israel Chamber Orchestra Israel Chamber Orchestra (abbreviation ICO, Hebrewהתזמורת הקאמרית הישראלית (''Hatizmoret hakamerit'') is an Israeli orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Primary funding comes from the Israel Ministry of Education and the Tel Aviv-Yafo ...

s, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Orchestra della Toscana Firenze, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, the Hallé Orchestra, the Orchestre nationale de Lille, and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders The Antwerp Symphony Orchestra is the symphony orchestra of Flanders (Belgium), based in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp. The orchestra is led by chief conductor Elim Chan and honorary conductor Philippe Herreweghe. The organisation, which is o ...

. In Japan he has conducted all the great symphony orchestras such as the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. From 2001 until 2006 he was the principal guest conductor of the

Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa The is a professional chamber orchestra, founded in 1988, based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, and is a full member of the Association of Japanese Symphony Orchestras. The Orchestra's home is Ishikawa Ongakudō (Ishikawa Music Hall). Since 2007, ...

and has since become its artistic advisor.

Honours

*Recipient of the Mozartinterpretationspreis (1969) *

Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...

(1993) *Recipient of the Tyrolean State Prize for the Fine Arts (2008)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pichler, Gunter 1940 births People from Kufstein Living people University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni Austrian male musicians