CHRISTOPHER HINTERHUBER

“One of the best and most fascinating piano recordings of the year“ wrote the german
magazine Fono Forum about his recording of Sonatas and Rondos by Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach, followed by an „Editor‘s Choice“ by the renowned english Gramophone
Magazine for the recording of works for piano and orchestra by Hummel.
Another recording which has brought him international attention and was the recording of
all Piano Concertos by Ferdinand Ries with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic and other orchestras.
Born in Austria, Christopher Hinterhuber studied with Alex Papenberg, Rudolf Kehrer,
Lazar Berman, Avo Kouyoumdjian and Heinz Medjimorec at the University for Music and
performing Arts in Vienna and the Accademia „Incontri col Maestro“ in Imola, Italy
acquiring additional artistic input from such artists as Oleg Maisenberg and Vladimir
Ashkenazy.
He has won numerous top prizes and honors at the international piano competitions in
Leipzig (Bach), Saarbrücken (Bach), Pretoria (Unisa), Zurich (Geza Anda) and Vienna (Beethoven)
among others.
As “Rising Star” 2002/03, he performed with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in the
international series at the Carnegie Hall, New York and in all important musical centers in
Europe.
The last few years have seen him play in major festivals such as the
Schleswig-Holstein- Festival in Germany, Styriarte Graz, Carinthischer Sommer Ossiach,
Salzburg Festival and Mozartwoche Salzburg, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Ruhr
Piano Festival and the Prague Autumn; under such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy,
Kirill Karabits, Jakub Hrusa, Bertrand de Billy, Sylvain Cambreling, Beat Furrer, Howard
Griffiths, Yakov Kreizberg, Christian Arming, Adrian Leaper, Andrés Orozco Estrada,
Dennis Russell Davies, Ari Rasilainen, Hubert Soudant, Alfred Eschwé and Bruno Weil;
with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra and the
Klangforum in Vienna, the Wiener Virtuosen, the Vienna and Zurich Chamber Orchestra,
the MDR Orchestra Leipzig, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de
Luxembourg, the Philharmonia Prague, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the New
Zealand Symphony Orchestra among others.
A special project was the sound recording (Schubert, Rachmaninov, Schönberg) and filming
(his hands) for the french-austrian movie “La pianiste” based on a novel by Elfriede
Jelinek and directed by Michael Haneke, which was awarded the Great Prize of the Jury
in Cannes in 2001.
Beside his activities as soloist, chamber music is an important part of his musical life, for
example as member of the renowned Altenberg Piano Trio, which has its own series in
the Musikverein in Vienna; since 2017 until 2021 he played also in acclaimed Piano Quintet
„Philharmonic Five“ with members of the Vienna Philharmonic, the ensemble released
their first CD-recording on Sony Classical in January 2018.
He gives regularly masterclasses worldwide and is professor for piano and head of the
piano department at the University for Music and performing Arts in Vienna.