The pianist Peter Lang has performed with many world renowned orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo. He has taught piano at the Mozarteum University since 1979 and was the director of the Mozarteum International Summer Academy from 1988-1991. In recent years, Peter Lang has devoted himself first and foremost to his artistic activities and to supporting young artists.
Peter Lang (b. 1946 in Lambach) received his first music lessons from his father, the organist and choir director Hermann Lang. This was followed by musical studies with Kurt Neumüller, Bernhard Paumgartner, Kurt Overhoff and Gerhard Wimberger at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, as well as with Friedrich Gulda and Géza Anda. His performance career began in 1955 and, at the age of 15, Peter Lang gave concerts with the Camerata Salzburg under Bernhard Paumgartner. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 1965. He has performed chamber concerts with Ruggiero Ricci and the Vienna-Berlin ensemble, among others. As part of the Salzburg Mozart Week he worked with Claudio Abbado, Kiri Te Kanawa and Walter Levin.
In 1978 he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, where he headed the Keyboard Department from 1979 to 2002; in 1985 he founded the interdisciplinary "Musical Academies", which he directed until 1995. Peter Lang has taught master classes in Europe, the USA and the Far East since 1980. In addition to his concert and teaching activities, he acts as a juror at international, highly regarded competitions in Europe, the USA, Japan and Russia, including the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg since 1982 and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998 and 2007.
Awards
- Honorary Member of the Mozarteum University (2013)
- Honorary citizen of his home town of Lambach (2017)
- Culture medal of the state of Upper Austria (2018)