Erich Traxler

Harpsichordist Erich Traxler is one of Austria's most prominent keyboardists focusing on both early Baroque music and the keyboard music of the High Baroque. He has also been active as an organist and educator. Traxler was born in Linz, Austria, and studied harpsichord, organ, and piano at the Bruckner Conservatory there. He moved on to the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, working with a roster of prestigious teachers that included Wolfgang Glüxam, Michael Radulescu, and Brett Leighton. Traxler earned various prizes in international competitions and won a special merit prize from the Hochschüle für Musik upon graduation. Traxler went on to study at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, working with Jesper Christensen on harpsichord and Jean-Claude Zehnder, among others, on organ. He rounded out his education with master classes from Ton Koopman and Bernard Haas. He took first prizes at organ competitions in Goldrain, Italy, in 2003, and Bochum, Germany, in 2005, but since then has been heard more often on the harpsichord. Traxler has toured Europe, the Americas, South Africa, and Japan as a soloist. He has been especially noted as a chamber musician, participating in top central European and Italian Baroque ensembles including the Ars Antiqua Austria, L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, and the Venice Baroque Orchestra. He taught at the Music and Art University of Vienna (the Universität für Musik und Kunst, or MUK) from 2013 to 2018. Traxler has given master classes at Notre Dame University in Indiana and at the Belgrade University of Music. In addition to many chamber recordings on which he is heard as harpsichordist, he released a solo album, a recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BW 988, in 2016. in 2019, he joined violinist Gunar Letzbor for a recording of Mozart violin sonatas, which is rarely played on the harpsichord.
© James Manheim /TiVo