Christian Spitzenstaetter's path as a performer leads him from classical solo and chamber music to jazz and especially to contemporary, improvised, and conceptual music. As a composer, he has been commissioned to write works for, among others, Jeunesse Österreich, Academia Vocalis, and the Tyrolean Festival in Erl. His opera STILLHANG was awarded the Austrian Music Theater Prize in 2020 in the category «Best Premiere/First Performance». Since 2023, some of his works have been published by Universal Edition. As a conductor, he has performed with Camerata Salzburg, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, orchestra giovane, and Orchester KOMP.ART, among others. In December 2020, he received the “Tschumi Prize” for the highest grade in the MA in Specialized Music Performance | Soloist program at the Bern University of the Arts. Since 2022 he is a member of the Compagnie Merce & John, and since June 2023, he is president of the Swiss music edition SME. Since 2025, he and Florian Reider co-direct the Fleckl Festival, a cross-genre event they founded together. From October to December 2026, he is working in Budapest on an artist residency from the Landis & Gyr Foundation. He lives in Bern and works internationally as a freelance musician, conductor, composer, arranger, director, and cultural manager.
