Heinz Holliger
»As a world-famous oboist, he possesses sensitive virtuosity, and has opened up new worlds for his instrument in terms of technique. His conducting of the world’s best orchestras is suffused with intimate knowledge of the works concerned and consummate technical precision.«
Born in Langenthal in the Swiss canton of Bern in 1939, Heinz Holliger first attracted notice as an exceptional oboist. In projects like the Basel Music Forum, which he helped to set up in 1987, and as a guest conductor for the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles, he is dedicated to showcasing new and less recent music to the highest standards of artistic excellence. Trained under Sándor Veress in Bern and under Pierre Boulez in Basel, Holliger has since the 1960s worked indefatigably on an oeuvre that has meanwhile garnered many prestigious prizes, subsuming works of widely varied genres, from full-scale opera to chamber music.