Artistic Director of the World Choral Festivals

Martin Schebesta has been a Conductor of the Vienna Boys’ Choir since 1994. He has undertaken numerous tours with the Choir throughout Europe, North and South America, and several parts of Asia. Highlights of his activities have included concerts in the Vienna Musikverein and Concert House, with the Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, in London’s Royal Festival Hall, New York’s Carnegie and Tokyo’s Suntory Halls. Martin Schebesta prepared the Vienna Boys’ Choir for appearances in the Vienna State Opera and Volksoper and for performances of important choral works with famous conductors such as Bernhard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta and Kent Nagano. He has made numerous appearances on radio and television and been substantially involved in several CD recordings. In 2006 Martin Schebesta took over the artistic direction of the World Choral Festival with its international participants and annual concerts in the Vienna Musikverein and the Salzburg Mozarteum. Born in Zwettl, Lower Austria, Schebesta studied music and fine arts in Vienna, choir direction (with Erwin Ortner), organ (with Hans Haselböck), composition (with Thomas Christian David), as well as conducting (with Michael Gielen) at the Salzburg Mozarteum. In 1985 he already conducted a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar“ in the Vienna Sofiensäle. From 1986 till 1989 he was Director of Music at the Seminary of Zwettl, and in this capacity was also Director of the Zwettl Boys’ Choir. From 1988 till 1998 he directed the Zwettl Vocalists, of which he was the founder, and with them he performed major parts of their repertoire, including Haydn’s “Creation” and Fauré’s “Requiem”. Between 1993 and 1995 he taught at the J.M. Hauer Conservatory in Wiener Neustadt. During the 1998-99 season he was Director of stage music at the Josefstadt Theater in Vienna. In 2000 he made his debut as a conductor of opera at the Municipal Theatre in Landshut, Germany. Martin Schebesta has frequently been a guest conductor at the Imperial Court Chapel in Vienna and has also conducted the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Johann Strauß Orchestra, the Vienna Soloists, the Budejovice Philharmonic in the Czech Republic and the Schubert Association in Essen, Germany. Amongst his extensive artistic interests are ancient, contemporary and popular music; he initiates and conducts premieres (such as Gottfried von Einem’s “Missa Claravallensis”) and composes arrangements for his ensembles. As a choral expert who is much in demand, he is frequently invited worldwide to give workshops and lectures.

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