With his innovative projects, exceptional organ improvisations and live electronics performances, composer and organist Franz Danksagmüller is considered one of the most creative minds in the international concert scene.
As organist and musician, he performs as a soloist and as part of various musical ensembles.
Franz Danksagmüller studied organ, composition and electronic music in Vienna, Linz, Saarbrucken and Paris. His teachers include Michael Radulescu, Daniel Roth, Erich Urbanner and Karlheinz Essl. He was awarded an Appreciation Award from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research in 1994, and he has won prizes at many international music competitions. He has performed with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Camerata Salzburg, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Hamburger Symphoniker, the Orchestra of Birmingham, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, ‘die reihe’ ensemble and the Arnold Schönberg Choir. Furthermore, he has worked with many famous conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Schønwandt, Erwin Ortner and Ton Koopmann.
From 1995 to 2003, Franz Danksagmüller was a lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. From 1999 to 2005, he was organist and composer at the Cathedral of St. Pölten, Austria. Since 2005 he is Professor of Organ and Improvisation at the University of Music Lübeck.