24th International Festival “The Days of Organ – Dies organorum”: MATTHIAS MAIERHOFER

Austrian organist Matthias Maierhofer has been a professor of organ at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg since 2016 and also works as cathedral organist in Freiburg. He will perform piece by Anton Bruckner and mark the jubilee – 200 years since the birth of this important Austrian composer and organist.
His concert in Belgrade is supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade.

Program:
Dieterich Buxtehude (1637–1707)
Toccata in d, BuxWV 155

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736)
Sonata in F

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Passacaglia, BWV 582

Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Postlude in D minor, WAB 126/1

Franz Schmidt (1874–1939)
Variations and Fugue in D major (Königsfanfaren aus Fredigundis)

Biography:
Matthias Maierhofer studied organ, early music and church music at the universities of Graz, Freiburg, Leipzig and at the Schola Cantorum in Basel. Among his teachers were Arvid Gast, Andrea Marcon, Kurt Neuhauser and Martin Schmeding.
In 2007, Matthias Maierhofer was the winner of one of the most renowned international organ competitions: the Pachelbel Competition in Nuremberg. He was also a prize winner at the International Franz Schmidt Organ Competition in Kitzbühel in 2008, at the International Bach Competition in Arnstadt in 2007 and at the International Organ Concours in Nijmegen in 2006. Since then, regular concert activities have taken him to important concert venues and festivals in Europe, the USA, Russia, Japan and South Korea. As a soloist and continuo player, Matthias Maierhofer has performed with ensembles such as the Dresdner Kreuzchor, the Thomanerchor Leipzig, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Staatskapelle Halle.
From 2009 to 2013, Matthias Maierhofer led an organ class at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theater in Leipzig. In 2013 Matthias Maierhofer was appointed as the successor to Prof. Dr. Gerre Hancock to the professorship for organ and church music at the University of Texas in Austin (USA).
There he was named a Dean’s Fellow in 2015 for outstanding educational achievements and was awarded the Ducloux Fellowship of the College of Fine Arts. From 2014 to 2016, Matthias Maierhofer was the organist at the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin, which houses two of the most important American instruments from the Harvard University collection: the historic Holbrook organ and Charles Fisk’s grand organ op. 46.
Matthias Maierhofer has been a professor of organ at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg since 2016 and also works as cathedral organist at the Münster ‹Unserer Lieben Frau› in Freiburg. As artistic director of the Freiburg Cathedral organ concerts, he is responsible for one of the leading international organ concert series.

Students from his organ class have received over 50 national and international awards in important competitions, scholarship programs and foundations.