Percussionist and timpani builder Anton Mittermayr, a longtime member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, has been heard as conductor of the ensemble phil Blech Wien. He is also a notable educator. Mittermayr was born in 1970 in Oberndorf, near Salzburg, Austria. He took up the piano in 1982 and added organ lessons to his activities in 1986. In 1988, he began studying percussion at the City of Linz Music School with Alfred Steindl. His undergraduate education combined studies in music education, instrumental music pedagogy, and percussion; in the latter field, he worked with Horst Berger and Kurt Prihoda at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Even before graduating, he was finding work as a substitute timpanist with various leading Austrian ensembles. In December of 1995, he joined the Vienna State Opera Orchestra as a percussionist, and he has been a member of the group ever since, performing as a soloist and orchestral timpanist. Mittermayr also joined the Vienna Philharmonic in 1996, officially joining the Vienna Philharmonic Association in 1999. The year 2005 was another important one in Mittermayr's career as he joined Vienna's Hofmusikkapelle, a venerable ensemble that now provides orchestral accompaniment to the Vienna Boys' Choir, among other functions. That year, he also founded Wiener Pauken Produktions GmbH, a manufacturer of hand-crank timpani. The company employed builders in a tradition dating back four generations, to maker Hans Schnellar in 1894. The company's instruments are in use at the Vienna Philharmonic and other top orchestras. In 2012, Mittermayr became the artistic director of the Vienna brass chamber group phil Blech Wien. He has conducted that group on various recordings, including 2022's Live from Vienna, with organist Olivier Latry. Mittermayr is a senior lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik und dartellende Kunst, and since 2012, he has led a percussion class at the Konservatorium Wien. He is also in demand internationally for master classes, which he has given as far afield as Japan, China, and the U.S. ~ James Manheim, Rovi