Christoph Ehrenfellner

Salzburg-born violinist-conductor-composer Christoph Ehrenfellner combines the Viennese traditional art of composing, conducting and violin playing in unique style. After finishing his studies in singing, violin, chamber music, conducting and composition in Vienna and Salzburg he started as a violinist at the Wiener Symphoniker, and then worked as Chef Assistant at the Opera Nancy/France. He was composer in residence at the Orchestre Symphonique Mulhouse, the Seiji Ozawa Academy Geneva, the Theatre Nordhausen and at various European festivals. Today he works worldwide in the classic genres of music-theatre, ballet, symphonic, concert, Lieder and chamber music.

Karl & Anna at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg 2024 marked his 4th opera-sensation, 3 Symphonies had acclaimed success, recently No. 3 at Wiener Konzerthaus. His ballet on Schillers Ibykus 2018 earned enthusiasm just like the Chamber Music Theatre on Kafkas Verwandlung 2017. Christoph Ehrenfellner is awarded the European ICMA Composers Award 2025.

Ehrenfellner conducts repertoire from Baroque to Modern music. Strawinski’s Le Sacre and Xenakis Metastaseis at Carinthian Summer Festival 2022 were just as successful as Kalevi Aho and Tan Dun’s percussion concertos with Martin Grubinger on the drums. He conducted the passwort:Klassik series at the Vienna Philharmonic and the Youth Opera Project Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Salzburg Festival 2024.

Special cooperations with the violinists Beni Schmid, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian and Tomo Keller mark successful projects with The Academy St.Martin i.t.Fields, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Musica Vitae Sweden, Salzburg Soloists, RSO Wien, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, where his compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded.

From Salzburg Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Grafenegg, Styriarte, Carinthian Summer to Liszt Biennale Weimar and Viola Space Tokyo, from Mainfranken Theatre Würzburg, Theatre Nordhausen und Teatro Carrena Caracas to State Opera Ruse, from Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Mexico City Phil, Turku Phil, Philharmonic Orchestras Würzburg, Wuppertal, Mulhouse, Nancy, Praha to Tonkünstler Orchestra NÖ, Loh-Orchestra Sondershausen up to Academy St.Martin i.t.Fields, Cremerata Baltica, Camerata Salzburg, Wiener Kammerorchester, Krasnojarsk Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester etc he enjoys his partners.

Musicians like Martin Grubinger, Vivi Vassileva and Christoph Sietzen, Leif Segerstam, Daniel Klajner, Erwin Ortner, Enrico Calesso and Yutaka Sado, Gidon Kremer, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Pekka Kuusisto, Tomo Keller, Sacha Soumm, Sergey Malov and Beni Schmid, Enrico Pace, Denes Varjon, Gottlieb Wallisch and Hyung-Ki Joo – all of them enthusiastic partners for his music.

Great reviews about his music come from NY Times, Spiegel online, Die Bühne, via German Feulleton Fränkische Nachrichten, MainPost, Frankfurter Rundschau, Thüringer Allgemeine to Austrian papers Presse, Salzburger Nachrichten, Kurier, Krone, Wiener Zeitung. The Tjeknavorian-CD-recording of Ehrenfellners Suite des Alpes at SONY-Classical won the prestigious OPUS-classic-prize 2018 in Germany. Elbphilharmonie, Royal Albert Hall, Cité de la Musique, Concertgebouw or Vienna Musikverein: in nearly all the leading European Concert Halls the music of Christoph Ehrenfellner has won enthusiastic audience.

His music is edited by Doblinger Edition Vienna and the Universal Edition.

Since more than 10 years Christoph Ehrenfellner is a devoted coach and jury member at SCL Festival in Vienna Musikverein. His broad background of violin, singing, chamber music, orchestral and opera life has proven a rich source of inspiration for young musicians and Youth Orchestras. Since 2021 he is tutor at the prestigious Grafenegg Academy in the team of Hakkan Hardenberger. He was teaching string-orchestra at the KUG University Graz, guest-lecturing Composition at the Manhattan Scool of Music (with Prof. Edward Green) and guest-teaching at the Tohou Gakuen University Tokyo. The encounters with many of the leading Youth Orchestras worldwide resulted in cooperations from USA to Bangkok. 4 times already he went on tour with the Vienna Jeunesse Orcherstra.

He has been Chef assistant at Opéra National de Lorraine/Nancy 2010–2013, Chef and artistic director at Beethoven Philharmonie Baden 2011–2016, and Chef at the seasonal Wallersee Philharmonic Orchestra 2008–2018.

Ehrenfellner is honorary member of the Japan Austria Cultural Association. His thesis Art&Money is edited at the Akademic Edition Saarbrücken.