String Instruments

The Institute of String Instruments is home to the departments of strings (violin, viola, cello, double-bass), plucked instruments (guitar, dulcimer [hackbrett], harp, zither), the minor in folk music [Volksmusik] and the artistic major Steirische Harmonika. The team of professors and instructors is international in background and widely acclaimed for their artistry and expertise; together, they are able to offer an unusually wide education for all instruments covered by the Institute, and round this off with research into their instruments’ properties, pedagogical aspects of instrumental education and, also, take performance training to the highest level of artistry.

Our students enjoy a good number of projects undertaken in cooperation with the famous orchestra of the city, Bruckner Orchester Linz, and the Music School System of the State of Upper Austria alike, opening up an attractive range of networking and career opportunities even while still a student. In addition, students and professors give concerts side by side, in various chamber music settings, at our home Brucker University, in the lively arts scene in the region, and in Diatonic Expeditions into cutting-edge, creative folk music.

Since the academic year of 2022/23, the Institute is chaired by Director Alexander Maurer – the first person world-wide to achieve the highest post-doctoral academic honours, Habilitation, in Steirische Harmonika.