Elias Praxmarer is Senior Lecturer in Music Theory at Mozarteum University (Innsbruck campus). Alongside his teaching, he is active as an organist, composer and music theorist. He performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, while his sacred and secular compositions are commissioned and performed by festivals, ensembles and concert venues across the continent.
Elias Praxmarer studied at the Tyrolean State Conservatory, Mozarteum University (Innsbruck campus) and the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Among his most influential teachers were Bernhard Haas, Franz Baur, Michael Schöch, Klemens Vereno, Sebastian Euler, Annette Seiler and Andreas Liebig, while further artistic inspiration came from Wolfgang Zerer, Pieter van Dijk, Bernard Foccroulle and Maurizio Croci.
As an organist, Praxmarer performs regularly in Austria and abroad, giving concerts on many of Europe's historic organs. His compositions have been performed in numerous European countries and include commissions for organisations such as the Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tyrol Easter Festival/musicplus, the Steudltenn Festival, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Holland Organ Festival.
His work has received numerous awards and scholarships. In 2023 he won first prize at the International Composition Competition for Organ in Saarlouis, becoming the youngest winner in the competition's history. He has also received the Hilde Zach Composition Scholarship from the City of Innsbruck and a Richard Wagner Scholarship, and was a finalist in the International Composition Competition of the Brucknerhaus Linz (2019) and the Gasteig Culture Prize (2020).
Since 2018, Praxmarer has served as collegiate organist at Stams Abbey. Together with Hannes Torggler, he founded and directs the Stift Stams sakral – Festival Orgel Plus. Since 2020, he has represented the City of Innsbruck in the European Cities of Historical Organs (ECHO) network, and since 2021 he has co-directed the International Paul Hofhaimer Organ Competition with Michael Schöch.