Martin Hornstein († 27.10.2009)

On Tuesday, 27.10.2009, cellist Martin Hornstein has died completely unexpectedly at the age of 54 years.

Martin Hornstein studied at the Vienna University of Music and the Juilliard School in New York. While still a student began Hornstein his concerts as a soloist and chamber musician, touring in Europe and Japan. From 1985 to 1993 he was a cellist in the Vienna Schubert Trio and Trio from 1994 to 2004 member of the Altenberg Trio Vienna. In these formations, he was far more than a thousand concerts in all the major music centers of the world, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the Salzburg Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Chamber Music Festival Lockenhaus, at the “styriarte” Graz and through regular subscription concerts of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna.

From 2005, the musical partnership with pianist Janna Polyzoides took a lot of space. Among the many performances of the duo in 2006 was also a sonata recital in the Brahms Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. The collaboration with the lyricist Semier Insayif led to many appearances with the solo suites by Bach and poetry and prose of the author. Hornstein was a lecturer of the International Music Festival  Bad Leonfelden and the Mühldorfer Summer Academy and initiated a chamber music class at the Vienna Conservatory.

Martin Hornstein conducted from 2006 to 2009 the master class for cello and chamber music at the Mühldorfer Summer Academy. He was equally loved and appreciated among the students and faculty to share his immense knowledge and skills, without taking itself into the foreground. The Mühldorfer Summer Academy loses a good friend, a great musician and a brilliant music teacher.