Milan Turkovic

Milan Turković (born 1939) is an Austrian bassoonist who was born in Zagreb, Croatia but grew up in Vienna, Austria. He is considered one of the few internationally known soloists on his instrument. He was for many years the principal bassoon of the Vienna Symphony as well as a member of the period instrument ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien. Turković is a member of the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, a woodwind quintet consisting of principal players of the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center of New York.

From 1984 until 1992, Turković was professor of bassoon at the Salzburg Mozarteum. From 1992 until 2003, he taught at the Musikhochschule (conservatory) in Vienna. Since then he has concentrated increasingly on conducting.

Turković has performed as soloist with many important orchestras around the world, including the Vienna Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, English Concert, I Solisti Italiani, Camerata Academica Salzburg, NHK Symphony Tokyo, under conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Carlo Maria Giulini, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Neville Marriner, Christopher Hogwood, Trevor Pinnock, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Sandor Vegh, David Zinman, among others. In 1998 he toured the U.S. with Wynton Marsalis performing the latter's "The Fiddler's Tale". The summer of 2000 saw the premiere of Marsalis's quintet for bassoon and string quartet entitled "Meeelaan!", which was dedicated to Turković on the occasion of his 60th birthday, and for which Turkovic holds exclusive performance rights.

Turković appears regularly at important festivals all over the world such as the Salzburg, Vienna, Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Naantali, Prades, New York, Osaka, Kusatsu (Japan), and others.

His discography consists of 15 CDs of solo repertoire, 26 CDs of chamber music, and over 200 CDs as a member of Concentus Musicus. He has recorded the Mozart Bassoon Concerto four times, the third having been played on a period instrument, Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting. Turkovic's most recent releases include concerti of Weber with Marriner, five bassoon concerti by Vivaldi with I Solisti Italiani, and concerti of Christian Bach and Kozeluh.

As a conductor, Milan Turković appears regularly with chamber orchestras and large wind ensembles. He has conducted in Vienna, Salzburg, Venice, Milano, Rome, Florence, New York, Osaka, and elsewhere. He has also hosted his own music show on Austrian television. In autumn of 1998 Turković's first book, "Was Musiker Tagsüber tun: senza sordino", was published by Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna (in German).

In March 2003 Turković and co-author Monika Mertl presented their new book in Vienna: "Die seltsamsten Wiener der Welt - Nikolaus Harnoncourt und sein Concentus Musicus", written for the 50th anniversary of the famous Concentus Musicus and published by Residenz Verlag (in German). In spring of 2005 Residenz Verlag published another of Turkovic's books dealing with the international music life, this time entitled "Hast du Töne! Ein musikalisches Tagebuch" (also in German).

Turković has a son from his first marriage who currently resides in Austin, Texas. Since 1993 he has been married to Ingrid Wendl, a former Olympic figure skating star, Austrian TV host, and recent member of Austrian Parliament. (Material taken from the artist's webpage).

References

• [1] Biographical material from artist's webpage

External links

• Interview with Milan Turkovic by Bruce Duffie, June 23, 1997

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Name	Turkovic, Milan
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Date of birth	1939
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