Martin Grubinger
Percussion, composer
His broad palette ranges from eruptive cascades of sound on the drums to the delicately fading chimes of bells: as perhaps the best multi-percussionist in the world, Martin Grubinger delights his audiences with technical perfection and his joy in playing at breakneck speed. He made his first guest appearance with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2019 as the soloist in [Speaking Drums], a concerto for percussion and orchestra composed for him by Peter Eötvös.
Born in Salzburg in 1983, Martin Grubinger studied at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz and at the University Mozarteum Salzburg. He won prizes at international competitions while still a teenager. His repertoire includes solo works as well as chamber music, which he presents with his Percussive Planet Ensemble. In 2016/17, Grubinger was Artist in Residence at the Elbphilharmonie. He has also held residencies with the Camerata Salzburg, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and was Artiste Étoile at the Lucerne Festival. Orchestras with which Martin Grubinger has performed to date include the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Munich, Dresden and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and many more. A guest at prestigious festivals, he has received the Bernstein Award from the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Würth prize from Jeunesses Musicales Germany. Since 2015 he has been a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts and since 2018 professor for classical percussion/multi-percussion at the University Mozarteum Salzburg.
