Johannes Prinz, Artistic Director of the Vienna Singverein and the Vienna Chamber Choir, and Professor for Choral Conducting at the University for Music in Graz, was born into a family of teachers in Graz and grew up in a musical environment. Prinz moved to Vienna in order to pursue his musical education, and counted among his teachers Ferdinand Grossmann – the legendary director of the Vienna Boys Choir – and Erwin Ortner. Prinz completed his studies in Music Education and his training as a teacher of singing with distinction. Alongside this, he studied Conducting and sang in the ORF (Austrian Television and Radio) Choir and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, in which latter he was soon gaining valuable experience as assistant conductor.

From 1982 onwards, Johannes Prinz conducted the choir of the Vienna University of Economics, which, under its abbreviated name, the W.U. Choir, advanced under Prinz’s direction to become one of the leading vocal ensembles in Austria. Up until 1998, Prinz also directed the Chamber Choir of the Vienna Music College. In 1991, he took up the baton as conductor of the Vienna Singverein, joining at a moment when the choir’s reputation for excellence was at a peak. Prinz has additional been conductor of the Vienna Chamber Choir since 1995.

Johannes Prinz has been able to pass on his pedagogic skills and his experience of directing choirs at the Vocal Week in Wolfsberg – which he founded himself – and, since 1985, at the University for Music and Arts in Vienna. Today, Johannes Prinz is University Professor for choral conducting at the University for Music in Graz.