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| Christina Pluhar | |
|---|---|
| Name | Christina Pluhar |
| Birth date | 1965 |
| Birth place | Linz, Austria |
| Occupation | Conductor, harpist, theorbo player |
| Instruments | Baroque harp, theorbo, lute |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Associated acts | L'Arpeggiata, La Banda, Ensemble collaborations |
Christina Pluhar is an Austrian-born conductor, harpist, and theorbo player known for founding the early music ensemble L'Arpeggiata and for her cross-cultural projects blending Baroque repertoire with folk traditions. She has maintained an active career as a performer, recording artist, and educator, engaging with historically informed performance practice and contemporary reinterpretations of 17th- and 18th-century music.
Pluhar was born in Linz, Austria, and grew up amidst the musical institutions of Austria and Germany. She studied at conservatories and universities associated with University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Mozarteum University Salzburg, and later pursued advanced studies in historical plucked instruments under teachers connected to the Early music revival and figures such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, Hopkinson Smith, and Paul O'Dette. Her training included work on the baroque harp, theorbo, and lute within pedagogical lineages linked to Arnold Dolmetsch traditions and the Historically informed performance movement. She also attended masterclasses and collaborations involving ensembles like Concerto Italiano, Les Arts Florissants, and Il Giardino Armonico.
Pluhar launched her professional career performing continuo and solo parts with leading early music ensembles such as Hesperion XXI, Freiburger Barockorchester, and Capella Coloniensis. In 1992 she founded L'Arpeggiata, which became central to her work as a director, resulting in partnerships with soloists and conductors including Christophe Rousset, William Christie, René Jacobs, Roberto Abbado, and Philippe Herreweghe. Her festival appearances include invitations to the Salzburg Festival, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the Baroque Festival of Bruges. She has also collaborated with orchestras and opera houses like the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, and the Royal Opera House.
Pluhar created projects under the rubric La Banda to explore folk and vernacular repertoires, coordinating musicians drawn from traditions such as Italian folk music, Sephardic music, Greek folk, and Brazilian music. Collaborators have included singers and instrumentalists from ensembles like Gipsy Kings, Il Seminario Musicale, Ensemble K617, and soloists such as Fabrizio Sotti, Lucilla Galeazzi, Anne Sofie von Otter, and Dawn Upshaw. She has worked with early music ensembles including Concerto Köln, Academy of Ancient Music, and chamber groups linked to the Bach Collegium Japan and Les Musiciens du Louvre for cross-disciplinary productions staged at venues such as the Teatro La Fenice and the Theater an der Wien.
Pluhar's repertoire spans Baroque music composers like Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, Giovanni Legrenzi, Henry Purcell, Arcangelo Corelli, Domenico Scarlatti, and Jean-Baptiste Lully, extending to early Classical works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn. Her approach blends historically informed techniques with improvisation practices associated with John Dowland and continuo traditions, and she frequently incorporates elements from Sephardic songbooks, Neapolitan tarantella, and Andalusian flamenco. Critics have noted affinities with interpretive aesthetics found in the work of Jordi Savall, Paul McCreesh, and Ton Koopman while maintaining collaborations with world music figures such as Ravi Shankar-associated artists and Cesária Évora-style ensembles.
With L'Arpeggiata Pluhar has released numerous albums on labels including Alpha (record label), Erato Records, Naïve Records, and Virgin Classics. Notable recordings feature Monteverdi madrigals, 17th-century cantatas, and crossover albums combining Baroque repertoire with folk idioms; projects include interpretations of Monteverdi Vespers, collections of Baroque opera arias, and albums devoted to Sephardic and Mediterranean songs. Collaborations have been issued alongside recordings by artists linked to Decca Records, Harmonia Mundi, and Deutsche Grammophon catalogues, and her discography is cited in databases such as AllMusic and international music prize listings.
Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata have received awards and nominations from institutions like the Echo Klassik, Diapason d'Or, Choc de la Musique, and Gramophone Awards shortlists. Festival honors and cultural prizes in France, Italy, and Austria have recognized her innovative programming and intercultural projects; professional acknowledgments include invitations to juries and advisory boards associated with organizations such as the European Early Music Network and national arts councils in France and Austria.
Pluhar has held masterclasses and residencies at conservatories and universities including the Conservatoire de Paris, Royal Conservatory of The Hague, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia. She has lectured on performance practice, improvisation, and cross-cultural repertoire at symposia hosted by International Musicological Society, Society for Musicology in Ireland, and conferences linked to the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism and has supervised student projects in collaboration with departments at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and other academic institutions.
Category:Austrian conductors (music) Category:Baroque musicians