Michael Oman, Amandine Beyer, Austrian Baroque Company
Biography Michael Oman, Amandine Beyer, Austrian Baroque Company
Austrian Baroque Company
Explosive music-making, glorious recorder-playing, Baroque swing” – this is how one could describe the basic aims and achievements of those top players from the original-instrument scene who came together to create the Austrian Baroque Company, a group which is celebrated internationally, receiving the highest praise and many CD awards since its formation in 2001.
The founder and director of the distinguished Baroque ensemble is the recorder virtuoso Michael Oman, who trained in Austria, Holland and Italy. For many years this exceptional Austrian musician has impressed public and press alike with his unbounded energy and joyful music-making, and with his period instrument band has conquered the national and international music scene.
The Austrian Baroque Company (ABC) brings together chamber music specialists trained at leading European music universities who are dedicated to playing on period instruments. The main focus of their repertoire is the vast store of instrumental and vocal music of the 17th and 18th centuries.
Numerous artistic projects from intimate recorder recitals to Baroque recorder concertos (by Vivaldi, Telemann, Sammartini and others) have already been presented to the public and recorded on CD.
Praise in Early Music publications and international CD awards (the latest of which was the coveted “Orphée d’Or” from the Académie du Disque Lyrique Paris – one of the highest awards made by the international specialist press) document the outstanding work of the Austrian Baroque Company, which has been described as “unbelievably agile, tempestuous, partly attaining the status of folklore” and “a ravishing celebration by a group with Danube blood in their veins”.
After many years of co-operation with the ORF (Austria Broadcasting Company), in 2009 the ensemble began a collaboration with Sony Music (deutsche harmonia mundi) with CDs of „Exit Baroque“ and Handel’s „Nine German Arias“ with the Spanish star soprano and Echo-prizewinner Nuria Rial.
Ever since the ensemble was formed in 2001 the Austrian Baroque Company has accepted invitations from a wide range of countries and is a regular guest at international festivals.
Michael Oman
was born in 1963 and is one of the leading recorder players of his generation.
He graduated from the Music Grammar School and Bruckner University in Linz and studied the recorder with Walter van Hauwe und Kees Boeke at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and also ensemble direction and analysis with the Austrian composer and music pedagogue Balduin Sulzer.
At the age of 26 he was already professor of recorder, chamber music and historically informed performance at the Bruckner University in Linz.
In 2001 Michael Oman founded the Austrian Baroque Company, a leading Early Music ensemble for the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, which he presents worldwide in artistic projects with innovative programming concepts and his impulsive virtuoso playing ranging from intimate recorder recitals to Baroque ensemble music and recorder concertos. The ensemble has been described as “unbelievably agile, tempestuous, partly attaining the status of folklore” and “a ravishing celebration by a group with Danube blood in their veins”.
After several years of cooperation with the ORF (Austria Broadcasting Company), in 2009 the ABC began a collaboration with Sony Music (deutsche harmonia mundi) with CDs of „Exit Baroque“ and Handel’s „Nine German Arias“ with the Spanish star soprano and Echo-prizewinner Nuria Rial. Praise in Early Music publications and international CD awards (one of the highest awards made by the international specialist press was the “Orphée d’Or” from the Académie du Disque Lyrique Paris) document the outstanding work of Michael Oman.
As a conductor he has recently appeared with the Californian Baroque Orchestra Musica Angelica (Los Angeles), the chamber orchestra Camerata Schulz Wien (Handel: Concerti grossi & Bach's St. Johns Passion) and the Mozart Youth Orchestra Japan. As a result of his re-invitation for 2019 he will conduct Mozart's Requiem.
Alongside his pedagogical work in seminars, workshops and Master Classes for recorder and for Early Music he is also actively and intensively engaged with contemporary recorder music. For example he has played world premieres of music by Upper Austrian composers, in particular the recently performed recital by Balduin Sulzer together with the Minetti Quartet, and presented composer portraits of Isang Yun, Luciano Berio und Karlheinz Stockhausen.
The debut concert of newly established ensemble Eurowinds together with his colleagues Dorothee Oberlinger (D) and Maurice Steger (CH) took place at the Festival Resonanzen in the Vienna Konzerthaus, further concerts in Austria and Germany are planned for the upcoming seasons (Stockstadt, Bad Arolsen, …).
Michael Oman has been the artistic curator of the concert series “Evening Music in the Ursulinen Church Linz” since 2007, as well as founding the “Eferding Castle Concerts” in 2009.
In 2019 Michael Oman founded the Austrian Recorder Academy (ARA), a training academy for young highly talented recorder players. The first edition took place in November 2019 together with his dutch teacher Prof. Kees Boeke, a world-renowned "legend" in the recorder scene. In the following years there will be planned masterclasses, lectures and concerts led by an international team of lecturers who will support the career of young recorder players in this forum.
