Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) was an Austrian composer and organist from Upper Austria whose nine symphonies - often called 'cathedrals of sound' - place him among the defining voices of late Romanticism. A deeply religious man and a late bloomer, he spent decades as a church organist and teacher before his orchestral music found wide recognition, only after the 1884 Leipzig premiere of his Seventh Symphony. His sacred choral output - Masses, the Te Deum, motets - runs alongside the symphonies as a body of work of equal spiritual weight.
A new recording of Bruckner's Te Deum conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado with the SWR Symphonieorchester was released in 2026.
The International Brucknerfest Linz 2025 ran from Bruckner's birthday (4 September) to the anniversary of his death (11 October), with concerts in Linz churches and the Stiftsbasilika St. Florian.
Conductor Gerd Schaller completed the BRUCKNER2024 project in 2025, making all of Bruckner's symphonies in all versions available on CD recorded by the Philharmonie Festiva.
The Bruckner exhibition at the dedicated anniversary venue in Upper Austria reopened to the public on 1 May 2025.
Austria declared 2024 'Bruckner Year' to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, with Upper Austria serving as the main stage for a wide programme of concerts, exhibitions and educational events.
