Silent Stage

As a trumpeter’s daughter my childhood days begin utterly unspectacularly, until that fateful day when the aforementioned trumpeter starts to teach me the recorder. It starts in the usual way with Christmas carols, which are followed by recitals at friends’ houses and at school. The “family band” (a zither and four recorders) plays for several years. When my brother switches to percussion, all the rest becomes unnecessary. Then come six years of piano lessons - and I decide not to become a musician. I graduate at the college of arts and crafts, and study art history. Since 1989 I’ve been a freelance textile painter, but still keep an ear on music.
In 1990 my daughter Florentina was born, my son Max in 1991. In 1997, marriage to the artistic director of the Vienna Symphonic Library, and on October 15, 1999 our dog Heidi moves in with us!
The chance to work for the Vienna Symphonic Library gave me the opportunity to find out how good my hearing is and how useful the patience and meticulousness that I learned from arts and crafts are for this line of work.

On the Vienna Symphonic Library: The Vienna Symphonic Library’s team is the best, and I’m really enjoying working in a team after years of working on my own. Apart from which it’s so uplifting to feel that I’m making a contribution to this truly marvelous project.

With 6, started piano lessons at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna, with 14 founded his first music group, since 1977 participation in various band contests, first recordings from 1980 on, studied double bass at the Vienna Conservatory, from 1984 on at the Vienna Music School, 1985 founding member of the “Wiener Kammerphilharmonie” – as double bass soloist 1987 member of the “Gustav Mahler – Jugendorchester” ,from 1985 on, several CD recordings (Mozart, Schoenberg, Beethoven, etc …), substitute for the “Wiener Kammerorchester”, the “Symphonieorchester der Wiener Volksoper”, the “Vienna Symphonic Orchestra” and for the “Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg”, since 1986 world-wide tours with the “Wiener Kammerphilharmonie” (Japan, USA, Südamerika, concerts in all European musical centers (Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, etc …), subscription concert series – “Wiener Kammerphilharmonie” in the Wiener Musikverein concerts at the Salzburg Festival and the “Schubertiade”, several tours in Austria, since 1991 working in Vienna as a soloist, 1993 setting up his own studio – first compositions and arrangements, 1997 first CD production of his own, since 1999 film music projects for the McLaren-Mercedes formula-I Team,2000 founding member of the „Vienna Symphonic Library“, working as recording manager and artistic director.

On the Vienna Symphonic Library:
At long last I’m on the right side of the mike and control the whole world with my talkback button.

Born in Vorarlberg, kindergarden, After twelve years in school he studies physics and Astronomy at the university before changing to the SAE School of Audio Engineers for 1½ years. Now he is the 2nd ear at Vienna’s silent stage, drummer for Frieks (www.friek.com) and tours with Zweitfrau and L’ame immortelle as their sound engineer.

On the Vienna Symphonic Library: An interesting, brilliant, complex, forward-thinking project! Wondering if there are still any crazy people out there to produce a competing product.

Soon after I was born I was forced to learn first the flute, then the piano and later, to the distress of all concerned, the violin as well. (In an act of teenage rebellion I then switched to the viola). I then decided to become an electrician and attended technical school, which paid off inasmuch as I don’t try to plug microphones into wall sockets. After a brief intermezzo as a military fiddler in the Austrian guards I changed my mind about becoming a lorry driver and moved instead from Lower Austria to Vienna, registered at the University of Music there to study as a sound recordist (minoring in viola and piano (it was some use after all)) and expect to graduate any minute now.
So I’ve been floating around Austria as a freelance sound recordist for several years now and the only reason I ended up at the Vienna Symphonic Library is that nearly all my colleagues are working here and there’s nobody left to go for a beer with in the evenings (that showed them!!).

On the Vienna Symphonic Library: All I can say about the Vienna Symphonic Library is that it’s fun to work with professionals (musicians and technicians) on a highly professional and visionary product, namely a library you can play music with.