Peter
Planyavsky
Biography
Peter Planyavsky was born
in Vienna in 1947 and became a student of Anton Heiller at the University for
Music and Drama when he was 12. He
graduated with the Master’s Diploma in Organ (1966) and the Diploma in Church
Music (1967). He then worked for one
year in the workshop of a major Austrian organ builder, and for another year he
served as Abbey Organist at
In 1969, Mr. Planyavsky was
appointed Cathedral Organist at St. Stephan’s Cathedral, Vienna. From 1983 until 1990 he was the Cathedral’s Music
Director with responsibility for choral and organ programs, which in Austria
are traditionally held as two separate positions. In 2004, he decided to terminate his
affiliation with the Cathedral.
Since 1980, Mr. Planyavsky
has been Professor for Organ and Improvisation at the University for Music and
Drama in Vienna, also functioning as Head of the Church Music Department from
1996 to 2003.
Peter Planyavsky also
undertakes a full schedule as a recitalist, a coach in workshops and master
classes, and a member of juries. He has
toured North America, Japan, Australia, South Africa and most of Europe, and
has recorded many CDs and records.
Mr. Planyavsky has won
several prizes and awards, most recently the Federal Austrian Prize for Music,
awarded to him for his collected compositions. He has composed extensively for choir, organ
and orchestra, with primary emphasis on liturgical works.
As a conductor, Peter
Planyavsky has performed the Bach Mass in
B Minor, the Duruflè Requiem, the
great Haydn masses, and other major sacred works. He now concentrates more on concertos for
organ and orchestra (Heiller, Guilmant, Jongen, Rheinberger, Saint-Saens and
others), having conducted several premier performances in Austria of concertos
by Horatio Parker, Jean Guillou, Jean Langlais, Howard Hanson and Leo Sowerby.
Current as of September 2007