Ernest Hoetzl

Dr. Ernest Hoetzl (born 1959 in Bruck an der Mur, Styria) is an Austrian conductor, musicologist, and educator with distinguished academic and artistic credentials. He completed his studies in classical philology (Latin, Greek, Sanskrit) at the Karl‑Franzens University in Graz in 1981, after which he pursued piano and conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, graduating with honors. In 1984 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Master of Music degree with distinction. He subsequently continued his conducting studies with Milan Horvath in Graz and later completed his doctoral degree in philosophy through a joint program of the Karl‑Franzens University and the University of Music and Performing Arts. Since 2000, he has been an Associate Professor of Music History at the University of Graz. Ernest Hoetzl is also an active conductor with a rich repertoire, fluent in several languages (English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Latin, and Greek). For his outstanding contributions to the arts and cultural life of Austria, he was awarded the Golden Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria (2008), the Honorary Medal of the Province of Carinthia (2009), the Paul Harris Fellow recognition from Rotary International (2012), the Gold Medal of Honor of the Province of Styria (2014), the Cross of Honor for Science and Art (2016), and the Gold Medal of Klagenfurt (2019). Hoetzl has performed with over 80 orchestras worldwide in the most prestigious concert halls, including the Musikverein in Vienna, the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin, the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Moscow Conservatory and the Moscow Philharmonic, La Scala in Milan, Carnegie Hall in New York, Teatro Amazonas in Manaus, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. He has also conducted the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the MÁV Symphony Orchestra in Budapest, the Vienna Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble, the Tchaikovsky Orchestra in Moscow, Yuri Bashmet's New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo New City Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Philharmonic, the Penang Festival Orchestra (Malaysia), the Adana State Symphony Orchestra (Turkey), the Philippine Philharmonic, the Tehran Chamber Orchestra, the Monterey Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), the Mumbai Chamber Orchestra, and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the Artistic Director of Musikverein Kärnten and Jeunesse Kärnten, and Principal Conductor of EuroSymphony SFK.