Consortium Internationale Compositorum

The Consortium Internationale Compositorum is proud to announce that Peter Planyavsky, one of the master musicians of the world, has accepted a commission to write a new composition for organ in Victorian style. The new piece will be available by the end of this year. 

Peter Planyavsky

Peter Planyavsky was born in Vienna in 1947 and became a student of Anton Heiller at the University for Music and Drama when he was 12. He graduated with the Master‘s Diploma in Organ (1966) and the Diploma in Church Music (1967). He then worked for one year in the workshop of a major Austrian organ builder, and for another year he served as Abbey Organist at Schlägl, Austria.

In 1969, he was appointed Cathedral Organist at St, Stephan‘s Cathedral, Vienna. From 1983 until 1990, Planyavsky held the position of Music director at that church, being responsible for choral and organ programs which in Austria are traditionally separate jobs. With the arrival of the new Rieger organ, in 1991, he returned to his original post.  In 2004, Planyavsky decided to terminate his affiliation with the Cathedral.

Since 1980, Planyavsky has also been Professor for Organ and Improvisation at the University for Music and Drama in Vienna, with the additional function as Head of the Church Music department from 1996 to 2003.

Peter Planyavsky also undertakes a full schedule as a recitalist, clinician in workshops and masterclasses and as a member of juries. He has toured North America, Japan, Australia, South Africa and most European countries; and he has recorded a small stack of CDs and records.

Peter Planyavsky & Leonardo Ciampa, "Heillerfest" (Boston, 2004)

Planyavsky has won several prizes and awards, the latest (2006) being the Würdigungspreis für Musik der Republik Österreich (Recognition Prize for Music of the Republic of Austria), awarded to him for his collected compositions. Planyavsky has composed extensively for choir, organ and orchestra, with a main emphasis on liturgical works.

As a conductor, Peter Planyavsky has performed the great works of sacred music such as Bach‘s Mass in b minor, the Duruflè Requiem and the great Haydn masses. He is putting more emphasis now on concertos for organ and orchestra (Heiller, Guilmant, Jongen, Rheinberger, Saint-Saens and others), having conducted several premier performances in Austria like concertos by Horatio Parker, Jean Guillou, Jean Langlais, Howard Hanson and Leo Sowerby.

More info: www.concertorganists.com