The Austrian pianist Stefan Vladar is undoubtedly one of the most interesting pianists of the younger generation of Austrian pianists. Born in 1965 in Vienna, he studied at the Vienna Music Academy with Renate Kramer-Preisenhammer and Hans Petermandl.
In 1985 he won the International Beethoven Competition of Vienna, the youngest of 140 participants, and has enjoyed an international career throughout the world ever since.
He has performed under the baton of such prestigious and respected maestri as Abbado, Chailly, Dohnányi, Fedosejev, Frühbeck de Burgos, Hager, Hogwood, Marriner, Menuhin, Plasson, Stein, Végh, and most recently with Daniel Harding, and has enjoyed appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony Orchestras, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, the Camerata Salzburg, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, among others.
He is a regular guest at many of the world’s prestigious festivals, including the Festival and Mozartwoche in Salzburg, Ruhr, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Marlboro (upon personal request of Rudolf Serkin) and Ravinia, etc. Concert tours have lead him to most of the world’s main cultural centres.
He has been the Artistic Director of the „Neuberger Kulturtage” in Styria, Austria since 1988, additionally establishing their annual „Neuberger Schumann-Tage”, which takes place regularly in June. In 1999 he was named Artistic Director of the „Oberösterreichische Stiftskonzerte”, and was further installed as Professor of Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
During the course of the last several years he has directed his artistic activities also towards conducting, having enjoyed successful collaborations with the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Budapest Strings and Budapest Concert Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Württemberg, Haydn Orchestra Bozen, Bruckner Orchestra Linz, Graz Symphony, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic and Musikkollegium Winterthur. Among various interesting projects in the recent past his performances in 1996 of all five Beethoven concerti in Munich and Vienna, which were very well received by both the audiences and media alike, deserves special mention in addition to Brahm’s „Deutsches Requiem” with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Singverein in 1997 and an opera production of Mozart’s „La Clemenza di Tito” in 1999 at the Klagenfurt State Theater.
In the 1999/2000 season Stefan Vladar appeared in numerous european cities and international festivals. Among the orchestra tours he participated in during this season that stand out as highlights were those with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under the direction of Riccardo Chailly in February 2000 to Japan and with The Hague Philharmonic under the direction of Christopher Hogwood in the Netherlands in May 2000. Further Stefan Vladar appeared with the world-renowned opera singers Waltraud Meier and Thomas Moser in the piano version of Gustav Mahler´s „Song of the Earth”.
During the 2000/2001 season Stefan Vladar has appeared as soloist and conductor not only throughout Europe, but for repeated performances in Japan and the USA as well. One of the highlights of this season were his appearances with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Fedoseyev for their annual Austrian tour. He further appeared in numerous chamber concerts as well as performed in partnership with the internationally-renowned Danish baritone Bo Skovhus highly successful song recitals throughout Europe and in special appearances at Vienna’s Burgtheater in Thomas Bernhard´s „Der Untergeher” with popular stage actor Martin Schwab.
In 2001/2002 he will be appearing throughout Europe, Japan, North America and at numerous international festivals. This season will also include Stefan Vladar´s dèbut performance in Canada. Highly successful opera performances at the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic for Haydn’s „La Canterina” and „Lo Speziale” in the Esterházy palace took place in September 2000. A special highlight of this season are his appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Seiji Ozawa in Vienna, Cologne, Lissabon and Madrid which he was invited to do in place of Peter Serkin, who had to cancel at the last moment.
Stefan Vladar’s discography includes numerous releases with the Sony, Naxos, Camerata and Koch Classics labels, which include among others Mozart Piano Concertos with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner as well as various solo and chamber music recordings of pieces by Schumann, Beethoven, Brahms, J.S. Bach and Richard Strauss.
