Mark Austin

Britain's Mark Austin is a versatile figure, active as both a pianist and as a conductor. He is notable as a musicologist as well. Austin was born in London. His first instrument was the violin, and he played in Britain's National Youth Orchestra, but when he was 14, he was playing in a string orchestra organized by his violin teacher; the teacher gave him a chance to conduct, and he immediately knew he wanted to continue. Austin attended Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, studying both conducting and piano. His major teacher as a conductor was Sian Edwards, and as a pianist, Michael Dussek. Austin served as an assistant to conductors Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, and Colin Davis, and he assisted Riccardo Muti in master classes. A breakthrough was his finalist placement in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Solti Conducting Competition. Austin has been active as both a pianist and a conductor. In the former capacity, he has appeared at such major British venues as Wigmore Hall, St. John Smith's Square, and Kings Place, as well as at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre. His conducting activities extend to opera as well as orchestral music; he has appeared with the Royal Opera, the Garsington Opera, and Sweden's Folkoperan. He has conducted such major ensembles as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and the Hangzhou Philharmonic in China. Austin is artistic director of Britain's Faust Chamber Orchestra and Stamford Chamber Orchestra, with which he regularly appears at the Stamford Assembly Rooms. He made his recording debut in 2022, accompanying mezzo-soprano Anna Harvey in a recital of songs by Peter Warlock and Frederick Howe on the Rubicon label. As a conductor, he has recorded an album of music by composer Joe Hisaishi (associated with the films of Studio Ghibli) for Deutsche Grammophon. Austin has written scholarly articles about Strauss and Mozart, and he contributed a chapter to the book Goethe and the Musical World.
© James Manheim /TiVo