Alois Mühlbacher gained his first musical experience with the St. Florian Boys’ Choir and made his debut at the Vienna State Opera at the age of 15.
His engagements have included the opening gala of the Vladivostok Opera House, the New Year’s Eve concert of the Mozarteum Orchestra at the Great Festival Hall in Salzburg, and vocal works by Bach and Handel at the Great Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. Guest performances with the Wiener Akademie under Martin Haselböck have taken him to Munich, Los Angeles, Mexico, and Madrid.
Since 2021, Mühlbacher has regularly collaborated with recorder player and conductor Dorothee Oberlinger. As Amyntas in Telemann’s Pastorelle en musique, he appeared at the Telemann Festival in Magdeburg, the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, and Musica Bayreuth.
In 2024, he debuted as Disinganno in Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at the opening concert of the Early Music Festival in Knechtsteden and in Sicily. Under the baton of Alfredo Bernardini, he sang the title role in Caldara’s Assalonne. At the Landestheater Linz, he appeared in the world premiere of Gisle Kverndokk’s Fanny and Alexander and as Eustazio in Handel’s Rinaldo.
Highlights of 2023 included his debut at the Künstlerhaus in Munich, a Farinelli recital at the Festival de Sintra in Portugal, Bach cantatas with the Wiener Akademie at the Vienna Musikverein, and a European tour to Paris, Bordeaux, Madrid, Hamburg, and Valencia in Handel’s Alcina with Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski – a role in which he also made his debut at La Scala in Milan in 2024. That same year, he gave a Vivaldi recital alongside violinist Dimitris Karakantas at the Vilnius Opera House. In early 2025, he made his debut at Zurich Opera House in Handel’s Agrippina under Harry Bicket.
He enjoys a close artistic partnership with the ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria and Gunar Letzbor, with concerts including appearances at the Utrecht Early Music Festival and Resonanzen at the Vienna Konzerthaus. In 2024, their new recording of cantatas by Antonio Bononcini was released. Together with pianist Franz Farnberger, he recorded the acclaimed album Urlicht featuring songs by Mahler and Strauss, which received three Opus Klassik 2023 nominations. In summer 2023, Mühlbacher and Farnberger founded the ensemble PALLIDOR, specializing in early music.
Alois Mühlbacher studied acting in Linz and solo voice at the Music and Arts Private University of the City of Vienna with Uta Schwabe and at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Michael Chance. He was a Sima scholarship holder and graduated with distinction from all programs.
In 2024, he assumed the position of Artistic Director of the Baroque Festival St. Pölten.
