Faculty Recital
Celebrating the birth date of J.S. Bach: March 21, 1685.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Piéce d'orgue, BWV 572
Partita diverse sopra "Ach was soll ich Sünder machen?" BWV 770
Passacaglia, BWV 582
Matthias Maierhofer
Improvisation
Franz Liszt
Präludium und Fuge über B-A-C-H
Matthias Maierhofer was born in 1979 in Graz, Austria. He is the recipient of a celebrated organ-playing tradition which leads in a direct line back to Maurice Durufle and Karl Straube. As an award-winning performer he specializes in improvisation and playing a wide range of historic instruments and music, ranging from medieval music through the 21st-Century.
In 2007, Matthias Maierhofer won first prize in the ION Johann Pachelbel Competition in Nuremberg, Germany, a leading international organ competition. Prior to this, he took several top prizes and awards at other distinguished international competitions such as the International M. K. Ciurlionis Competition in Vilnius, Lithuania, the International Organ Competition in Nijmegen in the Netherlands and the Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Arnstadt, Germany. In 2008, he won the main award and the Gottfried von Einem Prize at the International Franz Schmidt Competition in Kitzbuehel, Austria.
Matthias Maierhofer was awarded the highest German artistic degree, the prestigious "Soloist Diploma," with highest distinction, at the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany. Before that he studied organ performance and improvisation, harpsichord and figured bass, and organ and piano pedagogy at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig, Germany. At that school, he was awarded the German rank of "Diplomorganist" (Master of Music). This was followed by a three-year advanced study of ancient music and historic keyboard instruments at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland. Matthias Maierhofer studied church music with a focus on choral conducting and improvisation at the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg and was awarded the German title of "Diplom Church Musican" (Bachelor of Music). His organ teachers include Kurt Neuhauser, Arvid Gast, Martin Schmeding, Wolfgang Zerer, Lorenzo Ghielmi and Andrea Marcon.
Evidence of his thriving concert activity is provided by his appearances at important music festivals, including the International Anton Bruckner Organ Fesival, Austria, the Leipzig Mendelssohn Festival, the Leipzig Bach Festival, the European Music Festival Stuttgart, the Ansbach Bach Festival, the ION Festival in Nuremberg, Germany. Matthias Maierhofer has also given concerts at important venues like the Cathedral of Riga, Latvia, the Gewandhaus Leipzig and the Concerthall "Georg Philipp Telemann" in Magdeburg, Germany, the French Cathedral of Berlin, Germany, the Birmingham Symphony Hall, England, the Izumi Hall Osaka, the Casals Hall Tokyo, Japan and the Organfestival at the Kiong-Dong Church Seoul, South Korea.
Matthias Maierhofer has performed as a soloist and continuo player with renowned ensembles, including the Dresdener Kreuzchor, the Leipzig University Choir, the Gewandhaus Chor Leipzig, the Thomaner Chor Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Leipzig Symphonic Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Halle. He has collaborated on CD productions and publications for Helbling Edition. Several recordings of his concerts are available for the Austrian, Bavarian, Dutch, Norwegian and Lithuanian Broadcasting Corporations.
From 2005 to 2009, Matthias Maierhofer was director of music and organist at St. Albertus Magnus Church in Freiburg, Germany. He has also taught at the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg. Beginning in 2009, Matthias Maierhofer was a faculty member of the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig, Germany, where he taught organ and improvisation. In the summer of 2013, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Organ and Sacred Music at The University of Texas at Austin.