Jürgen Essl is one of the foremost organists and
composers in today's European musical scene.
He performs regularly in the most prestigious venues
around the globe including venues such as the Notre
Dame de Paris, Kölner Dom, Auditorio Nacional de
Madrid, Smetana Hall Prague, Konzerthaus Wien,
Philharmonic Hall Moscow, as well as Amsterdam,
Lissabon, Milano, Tokyo, and the USA.
He frequently appears on television and radio as both
organist and conductor.

Mr. Essl has recorded with several recording labels
such as Carus, IFO, Organ Promotion, Kirche+Leben
Edition, Audite and Veneto Musica. His critically
acclaimed 1995 recording of the entire Jean Francaix’s
oeuvre for the organ appeared on the Audite recording
label. Jean Francaix himself wrote with excitement
about this recording project, describing it as an
“excellent collaboration” between the composer and
the organist.

A special expertise of Maestro Essl is his
inexhaustible flair and fantasy for free improvisation
on the organ. In fact, the Organ Promotion recording
label has dedicated a full CD to Mr. Essl’s improvisation
in the Brussels Cathedral. On this recorded improvisation,
the famous French organist Olivier Latry commented:
“I love especially the invention of the most contemporary
improvisation like the one with crescendo on the fifth –
What an effect! Bravo!”

As a composer, Mr. Essl’s works have been performed
by some of the leading choirs and orchestras. Most
renowned are his motets and oratorias, which have been
performed by leading choirs such as the Darmstädter
Kantorei and the Regensburger Domspatzen. Jürgen
Essl’s music has been published by Doblinger,
Carus-Verlag, and Schott Verlag.

Maestro Essl studied organ in Germany and France with
Ludger Lohmann and Francis Chapelet, later completing
his studies in Vienna with Michael Radulescu. A Professor
at The Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst
Stuttgart (www.mh-stuttgart.de) since 2003, Jürgen Essl
has also served as Professor for Organ at the
Musikhochschule Lübeck and an organist at the Castle
Church of Sigmaringen. In 2008 he led the international
“Kongress der Kirchenmusik” in Stuttgart, one of the
largest meetings on sacred music in the world. He is a
co-founder of the International Summer Academy of Music – ISAM in Ochsenhausen, Germany.

. . . “I was impressed by [Essl’s] strongly distinctive style
and compositional language and I treasure his strong and
lucid feeling of structure.” . . . Arvo Pärt