Christoph J. Eggner

Born in Linz (Austria) in 1972, Christoph had his first piano lessons in his home village St. Florian at the age of eight. He continued taking piano lessons at the age of twelve at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz where he graduated with distinction in 1990.
In 1990 he entered the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna where he studied with Paul Badura-Skoda, Akira Imai, Ludwig Hoffmann and Oleg Maisenberg. From his class he graduated with distinction in 1999 and has been his assistant from 2000 till 2014. Moreover he studied with Brigitte Engerer and Michel Béroff at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris.
He gave his first solo piano recital at the age of sixteen, was prize winner in several competitions nationwide and received a scholarship from the Alban Berg Foundation.
Since 2011 he is Senior Lecturer for Piano Chamber Music at the mdw (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Wien).
Christoph Eggner has given recitals and chamber music concerts in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Luxembourg, Thailand and Turkey.
During the last years Christoph Johannes Eggner has also been president and jury-member of piano and piano-chambermusic-competitions.
Furthermore he is the pianist of the Austrian Eggner Trio which is one of the most recognised and well-known of today's leading piano trios.
Founded in 1997 by three brothers - Georg (violin), Florian (cello), and Christoph (piano) – the trio regularly performs in such distinguished venues as Wigmore Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
The Eggner Trio has appeared throughout Europe, in Japan, Argentina, Uruguay, the USA and quite frequently in Australia and New Zealand. International festivals in which they have performed include the Kissinger Summer, the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg, the Heidelberg Spring and the Chamber Music Festival in Lockenhaus.
The trio received international recognition in 2003 when they won the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in Australia.
In 2006, through the European Concert Hall Organisation “Rising Stars” series, they played concerts in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, the Philharmonie in Cologne, the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Musikverein in Vienna.
Besides playing chamber music, the three brothers have played as soloists in the triple concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven and Bohuslav Martinu, performing with the Orchestra Filharmonica dell‘Umbria (Italy), the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (Australia), the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic of Budweis (Czech Republic), and the Tonkünstler Orchestra (Austria).
Recordings with Live Classics include the Beethoven Trio in D Major op. 70 Nr. 1 (Ghost Trio), the Archduke Trio in B-flat Major op. 97 (for which they were awarded “Best Recording 2008” from Klassiek Centraal), and Mendelssohn’s Trio in d minor, op. 49, and Trio in c minor op. 66. With Gramola they have recorded both piano trios by Shostakovich, the Ivan Eröd Trio op. 21, the CD “Kaleidoskop” with modern works by Austrian composers (Johannes Berauer, Sascha Peres, and Gerrit Wunder), Brahms’ Trio Nr. 2 in C Major op. 87, and Clara Schumann’s Trio in g minor op. 17 (for which they were awarded “Pasticciopreis” in Radio Oesterreich 1) and a CD with all pianotrios composed by Werner Pirchner.