Daniel Auner has been celebrated internationally as a violinist since his youth, while remaining deeply rooted in the rich musical tradition of his hometown, Vienna. The “master violinist” (Die Presse) and winner of the KlassikPreis Österreich, the Eugène Ysaÿe Competition, and other international violin competitions regularly appears with renowned orchestras and at major music festivals worldwide—often as the first violinist of his string quartet, the Auner Quartet.
His playing combines virtuosity with stylistic elegance; yet for Daniel Auner, success and recognition are never ends in themselves, and affectation is foreign to him. As the magazine klassik.com aptly noted, he possesses “agility, ease—indeed in the spirit of capricious Viennese charm—but grounded in a mentally and technically disciplined approach, a performance ethos that is highly responsible toward the text and its intended atmosphere.”
Musical curiosity and a spirit of inquiry are central driving forces in his work, which extends far beyond pure violinistic virtuosity. His highly anticipated complete recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin is the result of in-depth study of Baroque affektenlehre (the doctrine of musical affects), undertaken together with musicologist Dr. Dagmar Glüxam, which greatly informed his interpretation. The project, realized with the support of the University Mozarteum Salzburg, was released by ARS in early 2022.
Similarly, his recording of Mozart’s piano trios based on the autograph manuscript, released by the Gramola label in autumn 2021, stems from Daniel Auner’s meticulous source research. In these performances, he plays as part of the Vienna Mozart Trio, together with his parents Irina and Diethard Auner.
Born and raised in Vienna, he has been firmly anchored from childhood in the city’s and his family’s rich musical heritage. From an early age, he was a regular visitor to the Austrian National Library in Vienna and to the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg.
His profound knowledge and holistic understanding of musical expression are evident not only in his interpretations, but also in the carefully crafted dramaturgy of his programs and their presentation.
Foto: Elisa von Brockdorff
That an artist such as Daniel Auner devotes himself with equal passion to teaching seems only natural in light of the above—and surprising only in view of his young age. Since 2018, Auner has taught violin and chamber music as a professor at renowned private conservatories in Vienna; since 2020, he has also served on the board of the Fritz Kreisler Society, which, among other activities, organizes the Fritz Kreisler Competition every four years. Since 2024, he has additionally taught as a violin professor at the Summer Academy of the University Mozarteum Salzburg. He is also regularly engaged in educational outreach projects, visiting schools to inspire young audiences with music—always with humor and empathy.
As a soloist with orchestra, Auner sees himself in the Viennese tradition of the Stehgeiger (“standing violinists”) and *violin conductors” who led the orchestra from the first violin desk while standing. This tradition inspired his involvement in conducting, which he sees as an extension of his possibilities as an instrumentalist.
In 2020, he assumed the position of General Music Director of the Mödling Symphony Orchestra. As both conductor and Stehgeiger, Daniel Auner also performs worldwide with various other symphony orchestras.
Auner studied with Christian Altenburger, Igor Ozim, and Boris Kushnir. Today, his career takes him to major stages across the globe, both as a soloist and as a passionate chamber musician. His collaborations with distinguished conductors and orchestras have brought him to the world’s most renowned concert halls and music festivals. Notable conductors include Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Theodor Guschlbauer, Josep Caballé-Domenech, Lee Mills, Peter Kuhn, Ben Palmer, Peter Guth, and Marta Gardolińska; orchestras include the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, the Bergische Symphoniker, Russian Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orquestra Sinfónica Brasileira, Bruno Walter Chamber Orchestra, and the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss am Rhein.
His concerts have taken him to the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Vienna Musikverein, Suntory Hall, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Dom Musiki Moscow, Philharmonie St. Petersburg, Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos Lisbon, among many others.
Foto: Damian Posse
In 2015, Daniel Auner founded the Auner Quartet in Vienna. With this string quartet, as well as with the Vienna Mozart Trio, he regularly performs in many of Europe’s most prestigious concert halls. A passionate chamber musician, he also appears frequently in various ensembles alongside partners such as Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Julia Hagen, Patrick Demenga, Jan Vogler, Dennis Russell Davies, Cristian Budu, Ingrid Fujiko-Hemming, Pavel Gililov, Robin Green, Hannfried Lucke, among others.
To date, he has released 13 CDs on the labels ARS Produktion, Gramola Vienna, Capriccio, Coviello, and Preiser Records. His recording Dialog mit Mozart (Gramola) received particularly high praise from the international press and was named “CD of the Month” by the prestigious Strad magazine. He has been featured in numerous radio and television productions, including the opening of the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier, the Caprice Viennois production recorded at the invitation of MDR in Leipzig, as well as concert broadcasts by ORF, Radio Klassik, Radio France Musique, Radio Clásica de RNE, TV Globo Brazil, ORF 1, and ORF 2.
For many years, Daniel Auner has served as a cultural ambassador for Austria within the New Austrian Sound of Music support program. His educational and outreach performances have taken him to countries such as Brazil, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Belize, Tunisia, Iran, Kuwait, South Africa, and others.
Daniel Auner performs on a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini from the collection of valuable string instruments of the Austrian National Bank, and uses strings by Thomastik Infeld.
Text: Kaja Engel, 2022