M I L A N T U R K O V I C
Milan Turkovic originates from an Austro-Croatian family, grew up in Vienna and today is one of the few internationally known bassoon soloists. He is a member of the "Ensemble Wien-Berlin" (a woodwind quintet he formed together with principal players of the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic), the Concentus Musicus of Vienna and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York. During the last ten years he has also established an active career as a conductor.
From 1984 until 1992 he was professor of bassoon at the "Hochschule Mozarteum", Salzburg. From 1992 until the summer of 2003 he taught at the „Vienna University for Music".
Turkovic performed as a soloist in almost all the musical centers of the world with numerous renowned orchestras (e.g. Vienna Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New York, The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The English Concert, I Solisti Italiani, Camerata Academica, Salzburg, NHK Symphony, Tokyo, the Zürich Chamber Orchestra and F. Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Budapest) and worked with conductors such as Eschenbach, Giulini, Harnoncourt, Loughran, Marriner, Navarro, Pinnock, Sawallisch, Stein, Végh, Zinman and others.
As a conductor Milan Turkovic appears regulary with Chamber orchestras and large wind ensembles. He conducted the Orchestra di Padova in Padova, Florence and Venice, "Pommerigi Musicali" and the Orchestra Verdi in Milano, the MDR Chamber Philharmonic, Leipzig, the Camerata Academica Salzburg, the Salzburg Chamber Philharmonic, the wind ensemble of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, the wind ensemble of the Wiener Symphoniker, the "Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia" in Pesaro and in Ravenna, "L'Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese", the Osaka Century Orchestra at the Vienna-Festival in Osaka, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (Florida), the "Juillard Winds" in New York, the wind ensemble of the Royal Academy in London, the Ensemble Octogon, the "Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico" in Vicenza and the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra in Brisbane.
Turkovic conducted CD recordings for Camerata Tokyo with the wind ensemble of RSO Wien and with Ensemble Octogon, with the Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia as well as with the "Ensemble der Mozartwoche Salzburg" for "Mozarthaus Salzburg".
Milan Turkovic has appeared at important festivals all over the world, such as Salzburg, Vienna, „Carinthischer Sommer",Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Naantali, Prades, New York, Osaka, Sapporo and Kusatsu (Japan).
In May 1998 he toured the United States with Wynton Marsalis with Strawinski's "L'Histoire" and Marsalis' work "A fiddlers tale". In 2000 Marsalis dedicated his quintet for bassoon and string quartet „Meeelaan" to Turkovic who in the meanwhile has played numerous premieres of the piece in many countries.
His discography currently consists of 15 CDs with solo repertoire, 28 CDs with chamber music and over 200 CDs with Concentus Musicus. He has recorded the Mozart bassoon concerto four times (his third recording been played on a period instrument, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting). His CDs include the concerti by C.M.v.Weber (with Marriner), 5 bassoon concerti by Vivaldi (I Solisti Italiani) and concerti by Joh.Chr.Bach and Kozeluh. His most recent releases include Marsalis' "A fiddler's tale" (Sony) and a CD featuring his bassoon quartet "united sounds of bassoon" (Camerata Tokyo).
For two years he presented his own music show on Austrian Television.
In 1998 his book "Senza Sordino" ("what musicians do during the day") was presented in Vienna in German language. In march of 2003 he will present his book about Concentus Musicus.
Milan Turkovic's son from his first marriage is a drummer, studying in Boston. Milan Turkovic has been married to the famous TV presenter and former ice scating champion Ingrid Wendl since 1993.