Artistic Direction
Choirmaster
© Nina Tschavoll
Born in Lower Austria, Heinz Ferlesch has successfully established himself as a conductor of his baroque orchestra Barucco as well as a longtime choirmaster of Wiener Singakademie.
He studied at the Anton Bruckner Conservatory Linz and at the University of Music and Performing Arts with Herwig Reiter and Johannes Prinz. At the age of 27 Heinz Ferlesch has been appointed Artistic Director of Wiener Singakademie by the Vienna Konzerthaus, therefore he is the youngest Artistic Director in the choir´s history.
Within his career he has worked with conductors as Georges Prêtre, Valery Gergiev, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Franz Welser-Möst, Kent Nagano, Fabio Luisi, Adam Fischer, Bertrand de Billy, Ton Kopmann, Helmuth Rilling und Simone Young.
Engagements of the Wiener Singakademie took him – besides periodic performances at Vienna Konzerthaus – to London, Zurich, Budapest, Venedig and New York. Close collaboration with orchestras like Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Zurich Opera House Orchestra have shaped the musical development of Wiener Singakademie and its Artistic Director.
In 2004, Heinz Ferlesch founded his orchestra Barucco and since then he has increased his appearances as an orchestra conductor. Barucco, a young ensemble consisting of international baroque specialists, focuses mainly on the music of 18th century. Since its foundation the orchestra has been a regular guest at Vienna Konzerthaus and it is the „orchestra in residence“ of the festival „Vokalwoche Melk“.
Performing with young Austrian soloists and the Wiener Singakademie is one of the main concerns of the orchestra. For 2009 Heinz Ferlesch and his orchestra have been invited to perform at the International Baroque Festival at the monastery of Melk. Various CD recordings and broadcasts show the wide range of the orchestra´s repertoire: in 2004 the orchestra has recorded music by Antonio Vivaldi for the Austrian broadcasting station ORF, in 2006 a live recording of Handel´s „Judas Maccabaeus“ has been released by the ORF Edition of Ancient Music. In 2009 a recording of Handel´s oratorio “Alexander´s Feast” has been published.
Heinz Ferlesch also works extensively with the choir Ad Libitum, which he has founded in 1993. This mixed choir is focusing on A-capella music and has been invited to Festspielhaus St. Pölten, to the Brucknerhaus Linz and various festivals, e.g. Europäischer Kultursommer Aspach, Passauer Konzertwinter and Kultursommer St. Paul. Concert tours took the choir to England, Italy, Greece and Germany. Conductor Heinz Ferlesch and his ensembles have been awarded various national and international prizes.
In 2007 he was awarded the highly respected Ferdinand-Grossmann prize. In 2009 Heinz Ferlesch was awarded in the context of his activities for the choir scene Lower Austria with the Erwin Ortner price to the promotion of the choir music.
Heinz Ferlesch is a guest lecturer of Berkshire Choral Festival and also member of the jury of several national and international choir competitions. 2010 Heinz Ferlesch was invited for a first cooperation with the Choer de Radio France to conduct Antonin Dvořáks “Stabat Mater” in Paris. Since 2002 he is teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
2013 Heinz Ferlesch is the culture winner of the province of Lower Austria in the category of music and he got the Golden Badge of Honour of the Municipality of St. Valentin.
more information: www.heinzferlesch.com
Rehearsal Pianist
Foto: © iService
Hungarian-born István Mátyás studied piano and organ at the University of Music an Performing Arts in Vienna with Roland Keller, Paul Gulda, Karen De Pastel, Dr. Rudolf Scholz and Martin Haselböck. His world premiere recording of the organ works by the Austrian exile composer Hans Gal was appreciated as “the most important discographic act of the year” 2007 by the musical press.
Since he won the Grand Prize and four special prizes at the Mikael Tariverdiev Organ Competition in Kaliningrad, Russia, in 2005, he has been invited zo give concerts throughout Europe. His most memorable revitals so far have been the ones at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein, at the Budapest Palace of Arts, at the Dome Church of Tallinn, at the International House of Music in Moscow and at the Basilica St. Gereon in Cologne. He has performed several organ concertos with the Orchestra of “Wiener Akademie” on period instruments, with the Budapest Strings, the Zalaegerszeg Symphony Orchestra (Hungary) and the Chamber Orchestra of the Novosibirsk Philharmony.
István Mátyás was head of studies for several years at the Reinsberg Opera Plays in Lower Austria and he regularly works together with the opera house of Theater an der Wien. After six years of working as a repetiteur at the University of Arts in Graz he now holds the position of a repetiteur at the University of Music an Performing Arts Vienna.
Assistants
Simon Erasimus ist Gründer und Leiter des Vokalensembles Momentum Vocal Music sowie musikalischer Assistent der Wiener Singakademie. Er begann seine Dirigierausbildung am Diözesankonservatorium für Kirchenmusik St. Pölten und studierte anschließend in Wien Gesangspädagogik (Schwerpunkt Chor- und Ensembleleitung), Musikerziehung (Hauptfach Chorleitung), Dirigieren und Musikwissenschaft. Zu seinen prägenden Lehrern zählen Otto Kargl, Alois Glaßner, Johannes Hiemetsberger und Michael Grohotolsky.
Während seiner Studienzeit gründete Simon Erasimus Momentum Vocal Music, „eines der interessantesten jungen Ensembles im deutschsprachigen Raum“ (klassikbegeistert.de). Mit diesem Vokalensemble führt er regelmäßig Konzerte und Workshops in ganz Österreich durch. Das Repertoire des Ensembles umspannt sowohl die ganze Fülle der Chorliteratur als auch solistisch besetzte Vokalmusik von der Renaissance bis zur Gegenwart.
Als Sänger belegte Simon Erasimus Meisterklassen und Kurse bei VOCES8, Maria Cristina Kiehr sowie Jan van Elsacker und arbeitet regelmäßig österreichweit und international mit zahlreichen Ensembles und Chören wie Sollazzo Ensemble, Europäisches Hanse-Ensemble, Company of Music, Arnold Schoenberg Chor und Bachchor Salzburg zusammen. Zusammen mit diesen Formationen kam es zu Konzerten im Wiener Musikverein, Konzerthaus Wien und der Elbphilharmonie Hamburg im Rahmen renommierter Festivals.
2021 initiierte Simon Erasimus das Vokalfestival Totzenbach, dessen künstlerische Leitung er seither innehat. Simon Erasimus moderiert außerdem den Chor-Podcast „sprech:gesang“ (verfügbar auf Spotify, iTunes und Google), der sich zum Ziel setzt, einen gemeinschaftsbildenden Diskurs über Chorsingen mitzugestalten.
Seit 2022 assistiert Simon Erasimus dem musikalischen Leiter Heinz Ferlesch in der Wiener Singakademie, dem Chor des Wiener Konzerthauses und erarbeitet in diesem Rahmen regelmäßig Meilensteine des Chor-Orchester-Repertoires. In diesem Jahr leitet er im Rahmen des Carinthischen Sommers die “Missa Prolationum” von Johannes Ockeghem sowie österreichweit Konzerte in Kooperation mit der Jeunesse. Zudem dirigiert er zahlreiche Erstaufführungen wie u.a. “The Sacred Veil” von Eric Whitacre und “Path of Miracles” von Joby Talbot, außerdem CD-Aufnahmen mit Werken von Anton Heiller.