Album Presentation: concerning normal and right

Verena Merstallinger (c) Doris Wild

The classical guitarist Verena Merstallinger, who is awarded the Rotary Music Award, knows how to touch the listeners with her music and create a unique atmosphere. With a focus on composers, she combines works of the 19th century. Century and modernity and the resulting different musical styles, string tunings, playing techniques and virtuosity make their concerts an experience.

Verena studied at the Anton Bruckner Private University (ABPU) in Linz (AT), the Hochschule für Musik und Theater (HfMT) in Hamburg (DE) and at the Norwegian University of Music (NMH) in Oslo. Musical highlights were the performance of the cello concerto by F. Gulda with the Polizeiorchester Bayern, an engagement at the Landestheater Linz for a production of J. Nestroy’s “Love Stories and Marriage” and the recording of their CD “Concerning Normal and Right”. In October 2022 she won the 2nd Price at the Haspa Guitarcup Hamburg.

In addition to her solo career, Verena is also a passionate chamber musician and plays in different formations: In a duo with Lorenzo Orsenigo, she explores the repertoire for guitar and percussion and combines it with performative, contextual or improvised elements. Together with the actress Lena Sophie Knapp, they also performed at the Brucknerhaus Linz and at the Mittelyoung Festival (IT). She also performs with guitarist Julian Richter as a Capreolus Duo and made her debut as an electric guitarist with the Linzer Lizard Ensemble in March 2025.

Verena worked with composers, teaches at the LMS Sierning and Steinbach/ Steyr and dedicates herself to researching works by composers in addition to contemporary music and interdisciplinary collaborations.