Lars Mlekusch

Following his international career as a concert saxophonist, Swiss-Austrian musician Lars Mlekusch appears around the world as a conductor in venues including Musikverein Wien, Wiener Konzerthaus, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Het Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Casa da Música Porto, Teatro Nacional de Cuba, National Concert Hall Taipei and at festivals such as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Festival Wien Modern, Impuls festival Graz or Salzburg Aspekte. He has conducted ensembles and orchestras such as Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Collegium Novum Zürich, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble PHACE Vienna, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik Salzburg, Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, MIT Saxophone Ensemble Taiwan Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Cuba, Ensemble Schallfeld Graz, Cantus Ensemble Zagreb, Le Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain, Arc en Ciel Ensemble of the Zurich University of the Arts and others.

He works with composers such as Georges Aperghis, Aureliano Cattaneo, José María Sánchez-Verdú, Johannes-Maria Staud, Bernhard Lang, Germán Toro-Pérez, Francesco Filidei, Sarah Nemtsov, Alberto Posadas, Wolfram Schurig, Helmut Lachenmann, Germán Toro-Pérez, Agata Zubel, Simon Steen-Andersen, Klaus Lang, Wolfgang Mitterer or Xu Yi and conducted many first performances. His recordings appeared on labels such as KAIROS, PHACE, Gramola, Col Legno.

As a saxophonist he has performed regularly with ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble PHACE and the SWR Orchestra. He has recorded for KAIROS, Edition Zeitklang, Label PHACE and many radio stations.

Lars Mlekusch is professor of saxophone, chamber music and contemporary music at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Prior he was professor of saxophone and chamber music at the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität Wien (formerly Konservatorium Wien University). His students are winners of international competitions and hold professorships at music universities and are successful as performers.

He is regularly invited to teach master classes at renowned institutions including Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMD), Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Fryderyk Chopin University of Music Warsaw, Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi Milano, Royal College of Music London, Beijing Central Conservatory, Northwestern University Chicago, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, St. Petersburg State Conservatory) and has also been on the faculties of the European Saxophone University Gap, Impuls academy Graz and Arosa Music Academy. 

He served as a jury member at the major international saxophone competitions and at the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition Michigan USA and the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb.

Lars Mlekusch studied saxophone in Basel (with Marcus Weiss) and Chicago (with Frederick L. Hemke). He also enjoyed private studies with Claude Delangle and Arno Bornkamp. Later he studied conducting with Arturo Tamayo and Emilio Pomarico.