About

Clara Ziegelbauer

“She consistently impressed all of us with her decisive temperament, her profound musicality, her intelligence, imagination and curiosity. She knows exactly what she wants and her character brings a most enjoyable atmosphere to her work. Her abilities to lead and inspire a team are exactly what a conductor in the 21st century needs.” (Mark Stringer)

Clara Ziegelbauer is a multi-talented musician and researcher. She is the Artistic Leader of the Alma Mahler Philharmonie. Recent highlights include her debuts with the Ensemble Modern, the Youth Orchestra Alpe Adria, the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, and the London Symphony Orchestra (Donatella Flick Conducting Competition). Since the season 2023/24, she has been a regular guest conductor at the Wiener Volkstheater. In addition to her conducting career, she loves to teach at university level. She is guest professor (2025-2027) for music theory at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK).

She is conducting-alumna of the prestigious Akademie Musiktheater heute of the Deutsche Bank Stiftung and was granted a Startstipendium (scholarship) for Music and Performing Arts by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture, Civil Service and Sport. She won the position of conducting fellow and assistant conductor of the Bergische Symphoniker in Wuppertal, Germany. Clara Ziegelbauer has a strong passion for contemporary pieces and music by composers who are hardly present in music historiography simply because of their gender or religion, thinking of Lili Boulanger, Hugo Kauder and Mélanie Bonis to name but a few of them. In addition, she regularly performs with and composes for choirs and vocal groups and has a special interest in experimental concert/music theatre formats.

Clara Ziegelbauer completed her studies in Orchestral Conducting with Mark Stringer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 2020, graduating with honors. She was a semi-finalist in the International Conducting Competition Lliria, City of Music in Spain. She was selected for the Karajan Competition of the academy of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Besides Stringer, her main teachers were Karl Kamper (Choir Conducting, Mozarteum Salzburg), Yuji Yuasa (Orchestral Conducting Technique), Thomas Lang, Ingrun Fussenegger, Johannes Hiemetsberger and Alois Glassner (Choir Conducting, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna), Martin Lichtfuss and Gesine Schröder (Composition and Music Theory), Barbara Moser (Piano), Vladimir Kiradjiev and Konrad Leitner (Opera Conducting). She has benefitted from conducting masterclasses with Douglas Bostock, Mark Heron, Clark Rundell, Johannes Schlaefli, Marin Alsop and Barneby Smith.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Musicology from the University Vienna. She completed her Magister in Music Theory at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). She graduated as Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (research area: Gustav Mahler’s performance indications). Her current research project focuses on the LaSalle String Quartet, supported by the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel and the ÖAW (Austrian Academy of Sciences).

Since 2025, Clara has been married to the composer and trumpet player Eric Ziegelbauer.

For conducting requests: please contact Laurent Delage.

For music theory/research requests: please contact bauer-c@mdw.ac.at.