Mario Aschauer
Mario Aschauer, PhD
Associate Professor, Coordinator of Musicology
School of Music, 315 | 936.294.3261 | mario.aschauer@shsu.edu
Division | Musicology
Dr. Mario Aschauer is Associate Professor of Musicology at Sam Houston State University and Director of the Center for Early Music Research and Performance. His work as conductor, harpsichordist, and musicologist focuses on the interface of music scholarship and performance. Dr. Aschauer’s book on German Keyboard Treatises in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century was published by Bärenreiter (Kassel, 2011). All new Bärenreiter editions of Schubert’s piano music (including Impromptus, Moments Musicaux, and sonatas) are furnished with Dr. Aschauer’s notes on performance practice and historically-informed fingerings. Recent publications include a new edition of Mozart’s Sonata in A Major, K. 331, the first modern scholarly edition of both parts of Anton Diabelli’s Vaterländischer Künstlerverein, and Dr. Aschauer’s completion of Beethoven’s draft for a revised version of Für Elise, WoO. 59.
One of Dr. Aschauer’s other research interests is the creative process of composers, particularly of Anton Bruckner. Recent publications include a history of creative process pedagogy between 1500 and 1850 in The Oxford Handbook of Creative Process in Music and the article on Anton Bruckner in Oxford Bibliographies in Music. Current projects include a new book on Bruckner’s sketches and drafts.
As recitalist and continuo-player on historical keyboard instruments Dr. Aschauer has built up a diverse repertoire and currently focuses on Austrian Baroque music. As a conductor Dr. Aschauer also specializes in historically informed performance practice and has collaborated with early music ensembles such as Mercury Chamber Orchestra Houston, La Follia Austin, Ensemble NovAntique Linz, Progetto Semiserio Vienna, Harmony of Nations Baroque Orchestra, Ars Antiqua Austria, and L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra.
Dr. Aschauer holds an MA in harpsichord performance from the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, as well as an MPhil and a PhD in musicology from the University of Vienna, all of which he earned “with distinction.” Before joining the SHSU faculty he was a postdoctoral fellow and visiting guest lecturer at the Yale School of Music.