Sebastian Gürtler was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1969. He studied with Helmut Zehetmair, Corrado Romano, Ernst Kovacic and Philippe Hirschhorn and is considered to be one of the most versatile violinists of our time.

Between 1997 and 2008, he served as the first concertmaster in the orchestra of the

Wiener Volksoper. During that time, he founded the famous “Amarcord Wien” ensemble in 2000.

In 2005 he joined the renowned Hugo Wolf string quartet as first violin. He founded the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien in 2016, and last but not least joined the crossover group “Philharmonix-The Vienna Berlin Music Club” in 2017.

Sebastian is also endowed with a strong comic talent that he has put to work in several comedy shows with Aleksey Igudesman, such as “The Cyberconductor” or “Tandem“.

With his Trio “The Flying Schnortzenbrekkers”, he takes his audience on a rather hilarious absurd-dadaistic and nonetheless virtuoso musical journey.

A consummate arranger, he is very active in arranging the music played by the ensembles he is part of and his work is distinctively fresh, elegant, engaging and innovative. His highly acclaimed arrangements and compositions were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon, Material Records and other prominent labels.

In 2019 a feature documentary on Philharmonix will air on the French-German cultural channel ARTE, at the same time as the release of Vol. 2 of their album “The Vienna Berlin Music Club” on Deutsche Grammophon. The debut recording of the Alban Berg Ensemble Wien for Deutsche Grammophon is scheduled for 2020.

With his various ensembles, Sebastian Gurtler holds concert series in the Wiener

Musikverein and the Wiener Konzerthaus and regularly performs in the most prestigious venues all around the world.

He plays a violin by Nicolo Amati, Cremona 1654 as well as a modern instrument by Roland Schueler, Vienna 2018.

Participant of the festival in 2011, 2013, 2018.