Maestro Georg Tintner was born in Vienna in 1917.  He began studying piano at the age of six and to compose soon after.  At nine, he joined the Vienna Boys’ Choir, and at 13, he entered the Vienna State Academy, where he studied conducting with Felix Weingartner and composition with Josef Marx.  He was nineteen years old when he accepted appointment as Assistant Conductor at the Vienna Volksoper.

Fleeing the hostilities of the Second World War, Maestro Tintner arrived in New Zealand where he became Music Director of the Auckland String Players.  He later took up resident conductorship with the Australian National Opera, and then moved on to the Music Directorship of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra.  After leaving South Africa, Maestro Tintner spent three years with Sadler’s Wells Opera in London, appearing as a guest conductor also with the London Mozart Players, Bournemouth Symphony, the Northern Sinfonia and the London Symphony for BBC.

He returned to Australian National Opera in 1971 as Senior Resident Conductor and then became Music Director of Western Australian Opera and of the Queensland Theatre Orchestra, conducting a repertoire of over 50 operas, mostly from memory.  In 1987, he moved to Canada to become Music Director of Symphony Nova Scotia with guest appearances with major North American orchestras and ensembles.  This year will see Maestro Tintner embarking on the monumental task of recording all the Bruckner symphonies with several great orchestras of the world.

For Hong Kong, Maestro Tintner has guest-conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic.  He was invited specially to conduct the Hong Kong Sinfonietta for a period of intensive training and performances.  He has conducted the Summer Youth Music Camp for the Hong Kong Music Office.  He has also given masterclasses for the Academy and conducted the Academy Symphony during his visits.

Georg Tintner has been awarded the highly prestigious honour of the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the Austrian Government, the Commemorative Medal by the Canadian Government, and the Silver Cross of Honour by the Province and City of Vienna.

Currently conducting in Prague, Maestro Tintner regrets that he is unable to come to Hong Kong for this ceremony, Professor Anthony Camden, Dean of the School of Music, will receive the Fellowship on his behalf.