Martin Haselböck. The Austrian conductor Martin Haselböck hails from a famous family of musicians. Following his studies in Vienna and Paris, and after receiving numerous prizes and fellowships, he gained an international reputation as an organ soloist, working with such conductors as Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Muti and many others.
As Vienna Court Organist, Haselböck’s immersion in the great repertoire of classical church music inspired him to establish the period-instrument Orchester Wiener Akademie. Since its founding in 1985, the orchestra has become recognised as one of leading ensembles of its kind, earning particular recognition for its performances of the Classical and Romantic eras.
In 2014 Haselböck established an important new concert series in Vienna, RESOUND Beethoven, performing the composer’s symphonies and other orchestral works with Orchester Wiener Akademie in the historical Vienna venues of their earliest performances. The series has become an enormous success and coincides with a new recorded cycle of the symphonies on the French label Alpha, including a recording of Beethoven’s music to Goethe’s Egmont, featuring the actor John Malkovich as narrator in a new English version by Christopher Hampton.
Martin Haselböck now enjoys a busy career as a guest conductor with the world’s leading orchestras in Europe, Asia and North and South America. He has recently made debut appearances with the Vancouver Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic and the Ulster Orchestra.
Together with John Malkovich and the Austrian director Michael Sturminger, Haselböck developed the theatre-music drama The Infernal Comedy. The work has achieved extraordinary success, being performed internationally over 100 times. A further project with Malkovich, Just Call Me God, for actor and organ, will premiere in March 2017 at the new Hamburg Elbphilharmonie.