Wolfgang Harrer

Wolfgang Harrer was born in Vienna in 1953 and he was six years old when he had his first piano lesson. Wolfgang Harrer started playing the double bass at the Vienna Conservatory when he was 17 and a year later he became a student of Ludwig Streicher’s, the greatest double bass player of his time, at the University for Music, Vienna. Wolfgang Harrer also studied conducting, theory of music and education.

Wolfgang Harrer was co-principal of the double bass group of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna from 1978 to 1996, and principal for the Vienna Chamber Opera from 1979 to 1982. He has worked as a double bass professor since 1996 and since then performs regularly as a guest with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.

After being awarded a degree in 1979, Wolfgang Harrer was employed by his former professor as his personal assistant at the Vienna University for Music. Wolfgang Harrer has been a double bass professor at the University of Music Saarland in Germany since 1996, and he is also head of the orchestra music department there. He has also taught at various courses and masterclasses in Europe, Asia and the USA.

Chamber music groups such as Melos Quartett, Klangforum, Die Reihe, Ensemble des 20. Jahrhunderts, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, and the Alt-Wiener-Octet have invited Wolfgang Harrer to perform with them. He has played in several ensembles through the years covering a wide range of styles from renaissance music on original instruments to the most current modern avantgarde.

Wolfgang Harrer’s published works have been produced under the Vienna Bass Edition label of the mvam publishing house.

He has been a member of the jury at several competitions.

His solo concerts with piano or orchestra accompaniment have led him through Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Cyprus, Philippines, Taiwan, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama and China. He has recorded various CDs and performed for numerous radio and television stations.