Achim Holub (born 1966 in Graz) is an Austrian conductor.
Early life
Born in the Styrian capital of Graz, his first musical experiences came at an early age through his mother's, Sofia Holub's, Jazz band. His father Ignaz Eduard Holub was a highly successful, internationally active architect who had close family relations to the famous American writer Arthur Miller (Achim Holub's half-sister Doris stayed for one year with the Miller's at their home in New York State during the 1960s.)
He received his first piano tuition at the age of six, and decided, after initially being extremely attached to Jazz, to become a professional conductor at the age of twelve. At fourteen he became a student of Alois. J. Hochstrasser, the then music director of the Graz Symphony Orchestra, at the Johann-Joseph-Fux-Konservatorium des Landes Steiermark.
In 1991 Sir John Eliot Gardiner offered him, after a selection process which involved 60 conductors conducting the English Baroque Soloists at auditions in Stuttgart and Berlin, active participation at his conducting masterclass featuring operas by Mozart at the European Music Festival in Stuttgart.[citation needed] Among the other selected participants were Ilan Volkov and Bernard Labadie. [citation needed]
In 2005 he moved to London and in 2008 started collaborating with the Orpheus Sinfonia and Firebird, two orchestra projects under the patronage of Dame Judi Dench, performing with them at the most important venues in London and on a tour to Austria.
From 2010 onwards, he has been principal conductor of the London Classical Soloists, which has been performing many of the major classical and early romantic symphonic works, including the complete Beethoven symphonies, within the last years and is currently embarking on the complete Schumann and Brahms symphony cycles.[1]
