Gregor Widholm

Gregor Widholm, 2015

Gregor Widholm (* 1948 in Gänserndorf ) is an Austrian scientist and musician. He is a professor emeritus , founder and long-time director of the Institute for Vienna Sound Style and from 2007 to 2012 Vice Rector of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna .

education and profession

Gregor Widholm studied " Horn Concert " with Friedrich Gabler at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (then: Academy for Music in Vienna), "Communications Engineering " at the Technical University of Vienna (then: Technical University of Vienna) and graduated from 1968-1970 as well in Vienna a special course in "sound engineering".

1971–2007 he was a member of the orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper . In 1979 he was appointed assistant at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and in 1999 he was appointed professor for musical acoustics (first chair for this subject in Austria). Until his retirement he held various academic functions at his university.

Artistic activity

As part of his orchestral work at the Vienna Volksoper, he performed around 5,000 operas and operettas as well as numerous concerts and opera performances in Italy (Rome), Switzerland (Zurich), the Netherlands (Amsterdam, The Hague), USA (New York), Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto etc.), Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand (Bangkok) etc. Numerous recordings with Polygram , Deutsche Grammophon , EMI etc. with artists such as L. Pavarotti , P. Domingo , E. Gruberová , E. Mathis etc.

From 1974 to 1986 he was a member of the Capella Academica Vienna and the Ensemble Eduard Melkus . During this time he was intensely preoccupied with the natural horn and historical performance and playing practices as well as primarily chamber music and solo activities. Concerts - some as soloists - in Vienna, Munich, Prague, Budapest, Rome, Milan, Venice, London, Oxford, Tokyo, Osaka, Hong Kong etc. Numerous recordings - some as soloists - for Deutsche Grammophon , Amadeo , Nippon Columbia etc.

Management activity

In 1978 he founded the concert association “ Wiener Volksopernorchester ”, of which he was director until 1986. In this context, the first appearance of a European orchestra in Singapore, the first appearance of an Austrian orchestra in Thailand (Bangkok), the first concert tour of the Vienna People's Opera Orchestra to the Far East, the first performance of the State and People's Opera in the summer break and around 30 Record projects for the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra. In addition, he was managing director of Capella Academica Vienna from 1974 to 1991, for which he set up and directed two independent concert cycles in Vienna. In the scientific field, he organized numerous international scientific symposia and congresses, including the 92nd and 122nd AES Convention in Vienna, each with around 10,000 participants and 200 scientific lectures, as well as the conception and content implementation of numerous exhibitions and interactive computer installations. Head of the "Art & Health" department at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna .

Scientific activity

In 1979 Gregor Widholm was commissioned to set up the Institute for Viennese Sound Style ( musical acoustics ) as a scientific research institute and institutional support for musicians and instrument makers . At that time, he first introduced digital measuring methods on musical instruments and is considered the founder of musical acoustics in Austria. Under his leadership, the world's first computer system for "diagnosis and therapy" of brass instruments was developed, which is now considered an international standard and is in use worldwide. Computer systems for assessing the quality of string instruments and woodwind instruments followed. His main concern is the "making usable" of the findings from high-tech research for professional music-making and instrument making. In 1999 the New York Times named him as "Mr. Wizard “for instrumentalists.

Over 80 lectures at international specialist congresses and symposia as well as around 90 publications in national and international journals, encyclopedias and books. A number of publications have been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Polish, Japanese and Chinese languages. Project leader of a total of 8 funded scientific research projects in the field of musical acoustics.

Membership in international scientific associations: Acoustical Society of America (ASA), European Acoustics Association (EAA), Audio Engineering Society (AES), International Commission of Acoustics (ICA), Life Member of the International Horn Society (IHS), Historic Brass Society ( HBS), International Trumpet Guild (ITG), Catgut Acoustical Society (CAS), founder and president as well as chairman of the specialist committee for musical acoustics of the Austrian Acoustics Association (AAA); Co-founder and member of the Acoustics Committee of the Austrian Physical Society (ÖPG).

Publications (selection)

• Antonio Stradivari's Ex Benvenuti 1727. (= series of publications by the Institute for Vienna Sound Style. Volume 10). Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-900914-08-0 .
• Viennese sound style. In: R. Flotzinger (Ed.): Austrian Music Lexicon. vol. 5. Verlag der Österr. Academy d. Sciences, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7001-3042-2 , pp. 2653-2654.
• Viennese Sound: Traditional belief or actual reality? Leo S. Olschki Editore MMIV, 2004, ISBN 88-222-5337-X , pp. 101-110.
• The Horn. In: R. Flotzinger (Ed.): Austrian Music Lexicon. vol. 2. Verlag der Österr. Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-7001-3044-9 , pp. 797-800.
• Viennese specialties - special features of Viennese orchestral instruments. In: The orchestra. Vol. 50, No. 9. Schott Verlag International, 2002, pp. 25-32.
• The scientific conditions. In: Eduard Melkus: The violin. Schott Verlag International, Mainz 2000, ISBN 3-7957-2359-0 , pp. 33-43.
• Influence of valve mechanism on the microstructure of slurs played with brass wind instruments. In: Proc. Institute of Acoustics. Vol. 19, Part 5, St. Albans 1997, pp. 407-412.
• Horns: V. Acoustics of horn instruments. In: Ludwig Finscher: Music in the past and present. (MGG), part 4. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-7618-1105-5 , pp. 395-416.
• The Vienna Horn. Its sound - its playing technique. In: Paul W. Fürst (Ed.): On the situation of musicians in Austria. Lectures at the music symposia in the castle courtyard 1989–1993. Institute for Viennese Sound Style. Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-900914-00-1 , pp. 99-112.
• The Viennese oboe as part of a specific orchestral sound concept. In: Paul W. Fürst (Ed.): On the situation of musicians in Austria. Lectures at the music symposia in the castle courtyard 1989–1993. Institute for Viennese Sound Style, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-900914-00-1 , pp. 169–176.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ artim.at, accessed on October 25, 2012.
2. ↑ James R. Oestreich: Keeping That Vienna Sound (And Everything Else) as Is. In: The New York Times . September 26, 1999, accessed May 27, 2010 .