Vijay Upadhyaya
 |
Vijay Upadhyaya was born in Lucknow, India. After his graduation "Bachelor of Arts" in English literature, history and economics form Lucknow University he commenced his musical studies in Austria. He studied conducting and voice, holding a graduate degree |
He regularly conducts concerts across Europe, Asia as well as North and South America and has recorded numerous CDs. He is a visting professor for conducting at the Conservatories of Tbilisi (Georgia), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Chengdu and Beijing (China). He specialises in Mozart opera, oratorio, choral and orchestral repertoire and the combination of Asian techniques such as yoga and tai chi with western vocal and conducting styles.
Since 1988 Vijay Upadhyaya has conducted several choirs and orchestras in Austria and abroad, among them the Graz University Choir and Orchestra, Thirteen Strings, Canada, the Boston Sinfonietta, USA and The Borusan Orchestra, Turkey. From 1993 to 1995 he was a lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. In the summer of 1995 he conducted the choir at the master classes of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS). From 1994 to 1999 he was the musical director of the Vienna Karlskirche. His arrangements of Austrian christmas carols have been broadcasted throughout Europe.
From 1997-2001 he conducted at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Rome and at the "Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia". 2001-2005 he directed the "European Voices Istanbul" at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Istanbul.
In spring 2005 he was director of the EU's "European Horizons" project in Turkey, conducting concerts and holding master classes at eight Turkish conservatories. Furthermore he has worked for the Austrian Foreign Ministry from 1997 to 2008 teaching conducting and voice and establishing projects of musical education in Iran, India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil and East Timor.
As the director of the Vienna Star Orchestra & Choir Vijay Upadhyaya has undertaken projects with artists of world renown, such as Peter Sellars, A. R. Rahman, Subash Ghai, Peng Liyuan and Christoph Schlingensief. At present he is the artistic director of the Vienna University Orchestra and Choir and of the Vienna Vocal Consort, a renaissance ensemble. Since 2008 he works as an expert evaluating cultural projects on behalf of the European Union. In 2009 he commenced as a guest conductor of the China National Symphony and the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.