Franz Hauk

Franz Hauk maintains parallel careers as an organist, choir director, educator, and musicologist. His initiatives have driven renewed attention to the works of composer Simon Mayr; toward that goal he created the Simon Mayr Choir, through which he examines and presents Mayr’s music, while issuing numerous recordings in both organ and conducting roles.

Born in 1955 in Neuburg an der Donau within Bavaria, Germany, Hauk received training in piano, organ, and church music during secondary school before advancing to the Musikhochschule München and additional studies in Salzburg, Austria. He completed a master’s degree in Munich in 1981; after securing multiple awards, he earned his doctorate in 1988 with a dissertation on church music in that city during the early 19th century. His publications continue to address 19th-century performance practice and the preparation of manuscripts from the period for modern performance.

Hauk assumed the post of organist at the Liebfrauenmünster Cathedral’s imposing instrument in the Munich suburb of Ingolstadt, launched the “Organ Matinees at 12” series there in 1990, and organized further organ activities, among them the International Ingolstadt Organ Days at churches beyond his own. His cathedral roles have included choir director beginning in 1995 and artistic director until 2021. He has appeared as an organist on tours throughout Europe and the United States.

In 1996 Hauk made his recording debut on the Carlton Classics label, featured on a Leipzig Symphony Orchestra album devoted to music by Alexandre Guilmant.

During 2003 he founded the Simon Mayr Chor, an ensemble committed to the music of the overlooked German composer, and he continues performing and recording with the group. His discography remains especially extensive, encompassing releases both as organist and choir director, many of them with the Simon Mayr Chor and containing numerous world premieres of Mayr’s works. He has recorded prolifically for Guild and Naxos, at times releasing as many as five albums in a single year. In 2020 he and the Simon Mayr Chor issued a Naxos recording of Mayr’s Mass in E flat major, returning to the label with further Mayr albums during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023 he directed the early music ensemble Concerto de Bassus on a Naxos recording of Antonio Sacchini’s oratorio L’abbandono delle ricchezze di S. Filippo Neri.

Hauk teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.