Maestro Martin Sieghart

Official website of Martin Sieghart
Martin Sieghart at mica – music austria

Maestro Martin Sieghart

Martin Sieghart is an internationally experienced Austrian conductor and distinguished conducting teacher whose career combines decades of professional orchestral leadership with extensive pedagogical work. He has conducted major orchestras throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas and has trained numerous young conductors who have gone on to professional international careers. His background as a longtime principal cellist of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra gives his teaching a particularly strong connection to the practical realities of orchestral playing, communication and ensemble leadership.

Selected Artistic and Academic Positions

• Professor of Orchestral Conducting, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz – 2000–2016
• Honorary Principal Conductor, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands – since 2009
• Artistic Director / Chief Conductor, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra – from 2003
• Principal Guest Conductor, Israel Chamber Orchestra
• Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Bruckner Orchestra Linz and Linz Opera – appointed in 1992
• Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra – 1990–1995
• Artistic Director, Spirit of Europe Chamber Orchestra – 2005–2008
• Founder and Artistic Director, Mozart in Reinsberg Festival – 2002–2006
• Co-founder of EntArteOpera – together with Susanne Thomasberger and Philipp Harnoncourt

International Conducting Career

Martin Sieghart has appeared with a wide range of internationally renowned orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra London, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, WDR Symphony Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra The Hague and numerous radio orchestras in Germany.

His conducting activities in Austria have included the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Wiener Concert-Verein. Further engagements have taken him to orchestras in Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Malaysia, Macao, Brazil, Chile and other countries.

Teaching and Work with Young Conductors

Teaching has been a central part of Martin Sieghart's artistic career. For sixteen years he served as Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. His students have included conductors who later established successful professional careers in Europe and internationally. Since concluding his university professorship in 2016, he has continued his work as a conductor and pedagogue through international masterclasses, orchestral projects and individual work with emerging conductors.

For conducting students, Sieghart brings together the perspectives of an orchestral musician, chief conductor, opera conductor and teacher. His work focuses on the practical relationship between gesture and orchestral response, clarity of communication, phrasing, sound balance, tempo, rehearsal technique and the development of an individual musical interpretation. His many years inside a leading professional orchestra give him a detailed understanding of how musicians perceive and respond to a conductor from within the ensemble.

Artistic Profile and Recordings

Sieghart has recorded extensively with orchestras including the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra. His collaboration with the Japanese label Octavia Records included a recording of Gustav Mahler's Tenth Symphony in the Mazzuca/Samale version. His repertoire extends from Mozart and the Viennese Classical tradition through Bruckner and Mahler to the music of the Strauss family and twentieth-century repertoire.

His interpretation of Bruckner's Fourth Symphony with the NHK Symphony Orchestra was described by Nikkei, Tokyo as combining a calm and measured basic tempo with passionate expression, while maintaining a colourful, intense and balanced orchestral sound even at the strongest dynamic levels.

Experience for Conducting Masterclasses

Martin Sieghart's combination of international podium experience and long-term university teaching makes his work particularly valuable for advanced conducting masterclasses. Participants benefit not only from his approach to interpretation and conducting technique, but also from practical guidance on rehearsal strategy, orchestral psychology, communication with professional musicians and the responsibilities of a conductor in real working conditions.