Karl-Heinz Schütz

The Austrian flautist Karl-Heinz Schütz is one of the best-known flautists of his generation. He performs worldwide at leading music venues and renowned festivals as a soloist and chamber musician and as principal flute of the Vienna Philharmonic. Since 2011 Karl-Heinz Schütz has been a member of the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, and since 2015 he has been a member of the Vienna Philharmonic.

As a soloist, he has performed under noted conductors including Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Bertrand de Billy, Ton Koopman, Yakov Kreizberg, Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi and Markus Poschner. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Ensemble Wien–Berlin and various other groups. His repertory reaches from the Baroque to modern works.

In the 2024/25 season he has performed Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp K. 299 with Anneleen Lenaerts and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in the Vienna Konzerthaus and played Jacques Ibert’s Flute Concerto with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Juanjo Mena at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. In autumn 2025 he undertakes a tour with the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, at the invitation of Riccardo Muti. In 2023 he gave the world premiere of Clemens Gadenstätter’s solo concerto making of — intimacy, written for him, at the Music Biennale Zagreb, and released a recording of Frédéric Chaslin’s Sonata for Flute and Piano with Aparté.

His numerous CD recordings most recently include Carl Nielsen’s Flute Concerto with the Danish National Orchestra under Fabio Luisi (2023) and Vilém Blodek’s Flute Concerto (revised according to the most up-to-date sources) with L’Armonia Terrena under Zdeněk Klauda (2025). He has also recorded some of the most important flute works on the Camerata Tokyo label.

The Tyrolean studied with Eva Amsler, Aurèle Nicolet and Philippe Bernold at the Conservatoire de Lyon. Prior to graduation he won first prizes in the Carl Nielsen International Competition in 1998 and the 1st International Flute Competition in Kraków in 1999.

Karl-Heinz Schütz is a professor at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and gives regular masterclasses at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, the Paris Conservatoire, the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music.

He plays a 24-carat gold flute by Muramatsu.