Otmar Gaiswinkler
Since 2007 he has been professor of concert trombone at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
He was solo trombonist with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. His first engagement was with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz.
As a sought-after soloist, he regularly works with renowned orchestras in Austria and abroad as well as with well-known colleagues such as Joseph Alessi, Dave Taylor, Gábor Tarkövy and Hans Gansch.
Numerous CD recordings with him as a soloist have been released, including works by Leopold Mozart, J. G. Albrechtsberger and world premieres of contemporary works.
TV concerts with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra on the alphorn (Leopold Mozart, Sinfonia Pastorella) and on the alto trombone (Michael Haydn double concerto) round off his activities as a soloist.
Masterclasses in Asia (China, Taiwan, Japan, Russia), Europe (Spain, Poland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Austria), Australia (Sydney, Melbourne) and the USA (New York, Chicago) are an integral part of his teaching activities.
He has also played in various ensembles such as the Austrian Brass Connection, the Ensemble Pro Brass and the Vienna Symphony Jazz Project.
He plays a lot of early music with the Wiener Akademie, the Concentus Musicus Wien, the Giardino Armonico Milano, the Grand Chapelle Madrid and is a founding member of the "Ensemble Tonus", which plays wind music on historical instruments, as well as a founding member of the Vienna Trombone Quartet.
Otmar Gaiswinkler plays exclusively on a trombone he created called "Aurora" from the Schagerl company.
As co-founder and chairman of the Tirolklang association, it is important to him to find and promote talented musicians.
Louise Pollock
Louise Pollock is Professor of Trombone at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. She is currently principal trombonist of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. In addition, she serves as an International Visiting Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.
From 2015 to 2023, she was principal trombonist at the Gothenburg Opera in Sweden, while also leading the trombone class at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama. Prior to that, she spent three years with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra.
Louise Pollock has received numerous awards at national and international competitions, including First Prize and the Audience Prize at the International Aeolus Wind Competition in 2016. She is now also in demand as a jury member, for example at the International Instrumental Competition Markneukirchen and the competition of the International Trombone Association (ITA).
In 2023, she was elected President of the International Trombone Association and appointed to its Board of Advisors.
She completed her Bachelor’s degree with Prof. Branimir Slokar in Freiburg im Breisgau and her Master’s degree with Prof. Henning Wiegräbe in Stuttgart.
Louise Pollock is a Conn Artist and performs on a 1964 Conn 88H.
Guntram Halder
Guntram Halder, born in Innsbruck, Austria, received his first trombone lessons at the Tyrolean State Music School. He then studied from 1995 to 2001 at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich with Prof. Michael Stern and Prof. Wolfram Arndt. Further artistic inspiration came from masterclasses and advanced training with Prof. Branimir Slokar, Prof. Stefan Schulz, Prof. Olaf Ott, Prof. Rex Martin, and Prof. Malte Burba.
He gained his first orchestral experience with the youth orchestra Junge Österreichische Philharmonie, as an intern with the Augsburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a substitute with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne. His first permanent position as principal trombonist took him to the Komische Oper Berlin in 1998; since autumn 2002, he has held the same position with the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
He has performed as a guest with numerous renowned orchestras, including the Berlin, Vienna, and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, major German radio orchestras, the Filarmonica Toscanini in Italy, as well as at opera houses in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, and Cologne. In doing so, he has worked with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Sir Simon Rattle, Kirill Petrenko, Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink, Donald Runnicles, and many others.
Concert tours have taken him to most European countries, the United States, and Asia. He is a lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts and also teaches at the Orchestra Academy of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In summer 2017, he was appointed bass trumpeter with the orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival. He is a co-founder and lead trombonist of the Deutsche Oper Berlin Big Band and is also active in various smaller jazz ensembles.
Nick Byrne
Born in Sydney, Australia, but raised in Canberra, Nick is currently (acting) Associate Principal Trombone of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Before joining the SSO in 1995 he was Solo Trombone of the Hofer Symphoniker in Germany.
He has also performed with World Orchestra for Peace, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Australian World Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Lower Brass, Summit Brass (USA), performing under numerous conductors including Barenboim, Boulez, Gergiev, Maazel, Dohnanyi, Mehta, Ashkenazy, Jansons, Dutoit amongst others and was chosen by Sir Georg Solti for his Carnegie Hall Festival Orchestra in 1993.
His teachers included Michael Mulcahy, Ian Perry, Charlie Vernon & Arnold Jacobs. Nick is also widely regarded as the performer that re-discovered the Ophicleide as a solo instrument releasing the recording 'Back from Oblivion' (Melba MR 301111) in 2006 to worldwide acclaim alongside concerto commissions for Naxos and his latest release 'Rêverie & Caprice' on the Rusty Trombone label. He has presented Ophicleide recitals in USA, Asia & Australia and continues to promote the instrument with teaching, commissions & solo recitals. He performs on the c1885 'Le Taureau' in C by Halari/Sudre.
Matthias Gerstner
Matthias Gerstner is an internationally active pianist, chamber musician and song accompanist. He is interested in everything that can be played on the piano.
During his school years, he learnt the piano, organ and cello - the latter he had to give up due to the horrendous pain caused by the thumb attachment. After leaving school, he studied organ and piano with a minor in horn at the Augsburg Conservatory and then went on to study piano in Münster. His teachers were Karl Maureen, Michael Keller, Hans Leopold Schwerdhöfer and, at masterclasses, Harald Vogel, Konrad Hansen and Vitali Margulis.
Gerstner accompanied Peter Ziether and Konrad Widmer on their singing courses. He has performed with orchestras on several occasions, including Tchaikovsky's piano concertos.
He has also performed regularly with choirs. In his numerous organ concerts, he has played compositions from the North German School, works by Bach, French Romanticism and Hindemith.
Since 1995 he has been employed at the Vienna University of Music as a chamber musician and solo accompanist for students of double bass, trombone and tuba.
His collaboration with Josef Niederhammer, which celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Vienna Musikverein in 2013, has been very rich.
The fact that the pieces sound different for everyone, even though they all play the same notes, is simply marvellous for him.
Hanspeter Gaiswinkler
Ensemble Unterricht
