The Art of Meaningful Travel

A highly regarded music educator in Austria, Professor Smole is the award recipient of the Nikolaus Harnoncourt Award (2008) presented by the Switzerland Government, praising his innovative pedagogic method and his contribution to music education. During the course of his studies, Professor Smole dedicated to the study of Music Education, Cello Performance and Conducting.

After graduating from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (Austria), Professor Smole furthered his studies in Lugano (Switzerland) and Weimar (Germany), advancing his conducting skill under the tutelage of such renowned conductors as Richard Schumacher (Lugano), Kurt Sanderling (St. Petersburg), Heniz Rögner (Berlin), Sergiu Cilibidache (München/ Mainz) and Thomas Ungar (Stuttgart). Being a devoted music educator, Professor Smole is appointed as the Director of Johannes Brahms Music School Muerzzuschlage after serving as the Director of Arnold Schoenberg School of Fine Arts from 1998 to 2006. He is also the Guest Professor of various universities in Austria and Germany and he constantly gives conducting masterclasses in Austria, Hungary, Germany, as well as Japan. Professor Smole is currently the adviser for General Education at Parliament of Austria.

Since 1980, apart from giving debut performance of works by various young composers around the world, Professor Smole has also given premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (last version) and Babel; Schoenberg’s A Survivor of Warsaw. He has worked with numerous orchestras across Europe, like Orchestra of Vienna Volksoper (Austria), Moscow Philharmonic (Russia), Orchestra of Budapest Conservatory (Hungary) and Romanian State Philharmonic (Romania), to name a few; Dallas Symphony in the US as well as Kosei Symphony Orchestra Tokyo in Japan. Soloist he has worked with includes violinist Henryk Szeryng, pianist Alexander Jenner and bassoonist Milan Turkovich, amongst others.