Biography

Konrad Ragossnig has wide and varying musical interests, recording and publishing music for both guitar and lute. He studied in Vienna with Karl Scheit and won the Concours International de Guitar in Paris in 1961. He then began touring, performing with orchestras throughout Europe and with chamber ensembles such as the Barchet Quartet Stuttgart, Berner String Quartet, Lucerne Festival Strings, Kyndel String Quartet Stockholm, and the Prague String Quartet. He enjoys playing chamber works where the guitar has been neglected, such as in Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, which he has performed with Peter Schreier at the Salzburg Festival. Other artists he has worked with include flutists Hans-Martin Linde, Aurèle Nicolet, and Peter-Lukas Graf; tenors Kurt Equiluz and Ian Partridge; cellist Marek Jerie; and his son, harpsichordist Thomas Ragossnig. Ragossnig is frequently found at music festivals in cities around the world, including Vienna, Ansbach, Berlin, Luxembourg, Paris, and Osaka. From 1964 until 1983 Ragossnig taught at Basel, and then took on a professorship in Vienna. He has also been a guest professor in Zürich and teaches master classes in conjunction with many of his performances in other countries. His repertoire ranges from Renaissance lute music to contemporary guitar music, and he has premiered works by two dozen composers, such as Hans Erich Apostel, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Friedrich Cerha, Hans Werner Henze, and Pierre Wissmer. In addition to teaching and performing, he has edited and had published over 70 scores of lute and guitar music, ranging from basic technique to arrangements of works such as Falla's Suite Populaire Espagnole (arranged for cello and guitar), and performing editions of works like Bach's Fugue for Lute, BWV 1000. His recordings are found on a number of labels and have won the Grand Prix du disque and Edison awards. His Archiv recording Musik für Laute was chosen as "Guitar and Lute Music Record of the Century" by the German magazine, Fono Forum.