Erwin Ortner was born in 1947 in Vienna, and was a member of the celebrated Vienna Boys’ Choir, going on to study music education, sacred music and conducting with Hans Swarowsky and Hans Gillesberger at the Vienna Conservatory. From 1980 to 2016 he was professor of choral conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where he was also rector from 1996 to 2002.
In 1972 he founded the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, which has gone on to become one of the leading European ensembles under his artistic direction. From 1983 to 1995 he was also chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Choir.
Erwin Ortner regularly conducts concerts both in Austria and abroad, and gives masterclasses in choral and orchestral conducting. In 2010 he took over the musical direction of the Wiener Hofmusikkapelle, founded in 1498.
In 2002 he was awarded a Grammy in the category ‘Best Choral Performance’ (an award given to both conductor and choral director) for the recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In 2010 he received an ECHO KLASSIK award for the recording of Haydn’s The Seasons with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and Concentus Musicus Wien, again under Harnoncourt.
