Bernhard Hofstötter
Biography Bernhard Hofstötter
Bernhard Hofstötter
was born in Vienna in 1975. Before taking up the lute he studied the violin with Grete Biedermann and was a prize winner at the national “Jugend musiziert” competition in Austria. He studied law at the universities of Vienna, Oslo, Leuven and St Gallen, at the same time receiving training as a lutenist with Luciano Còntini at the “Arrigo Pedrollo” Conservatory in Vicenza as well as at the Conservatory of Vienna. Having attained his soloist diploma at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, he received further musical impulse from Konrad Junghänel at Cologne University of Music as well as in master classes with Hopkinson Smith, Rolf Lislevand and Evangelina Mascardi. He completed his studies with Yasunori Imamura at Strasbourg Conservatory from which he graduated with great distinction (“mention très bien avec les félicitations du jury”).
Hofstötter focuses on the solo repertoire for lute and guitar of the 17th and 18th centuries. At the same time, he is keenly interested in contemporary music, which is reflected in compositions dedicated to him by Vache Sharafyan and Roman Turovsky. He has made appearances in the concert halls of his homeland (e.g. Konzerthaus Vienna and Mozarteum Salzburg), in most European countries, Armenia (Yerevan Philharmonics) and Japan. His solo recordings have been enthusiastically received by the international musical press. By way of example, his CD with works for lute by Silvius Leopold Weiss (“Dresden – Moskau”), released by querstand in 2011, earned the IRR (International Record Review) accolade “outstanding”. According to Gramophone it contains “some of the most sympathetic and beautiful Weiss-playing yet committed to disc”. His album “The Baroque Lute in Vienna“, released by Brilliant Classics, was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) in 2016.
