Dominik Wagner is the greatest hope among rising young double bass players today. He is 18 years old and his results at major international competitions are impressive: in 2012 he won the 1st Prize at the International Competition for Young Bass Players at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow and in 2013 the 1st Prize of the “International Golden Bass Competition” in Lviv, Ukraine – as the youngest contestant. In 2014 he won the 1st Prize and two special awards at the International Osaka Competition in Japan; in 2015 the 1st Prize and Audience Award at the International Instrumental Competition Markneukirchen. He is also a winner of the Leoš Janáček Competition in Brno, the J. M. Sperger Competition, the Bodensee Competition on Lake Constance, the Fidelio Competition in Vienna and many others.

In 2016 he won together with Vera Karner the Fanny Mendelssohn Encouragement Award. This prize includes a debut CD on the label Berlin Classics, which will be produced in April and released at the end of August.

Dominik was born in Vienna in 1997. At the age of 5 he began playing the cello; at 10 he moved to the double bass. At the age of 12 he was enrolled in the class for extraordinary talent at the Music University in Vienna, where he was taught by Prof. Josef Niederhammer and Werner Fleischmann. Since the autumn of 2015 he has been studying with Prof. Dorin Marc at the Nuremberg Music Academy, where he is part of the special track for highly gifted young musicians. Another important advisor for Dominik is Roman Patkoló, whom he first met in 2013 at the Golden Bass Competition in the Ukraine, where Roman Patkoló was a jury member. Ever since that time, Dominik is glad to be able to consult with him for teaching purposes.

At the age of 16 Dominik made his solo debut at Vienna’s Musikverein, giving the world premiere of Wolfram Wagner’s Ballad for Double Bass and Orchestra together with the Ensemble Kontrapunkte; his debut at the Gasteig in Munich followed shortly thereafter, featuring the Double Bass Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Minor by Giovanni Bottesini.

He has given concerts as a soloist with the South-West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim, the Polish Chamber Philharmonic, the Opera Studio Orchestra Lviv, the Brandenburg Symphonic Orchestra, the Kursächsische Philharmonie, the Southern Czech Philharmonic and other ensembles.

Many of his concerts have been recorded and produced by the Austrian Radio ORF.

Dominik has been inspired and attended master courses with Petru Iuga, Bernhard Ziegler, Christine Hoock, Johannes Auersperg, Jiri Hudec, Ruslan Lutsyk, Bozo Paradzik and Catalin Rotaru.

In June, thanks to the recommendation of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Dominik will perform at the Chelsea Music Festival in New York (director: Ken Masur); further performances planned for this summer take place at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In November, Dominik will appear as a soloist at the Festival BUNT in Belgrade. Furthermore, he will be heard several times as a soloist at Vienna’s Konzerthaus, in Frankfurt and Berlin.

In 2015 Dominik became a member of the ensemble “Mutter’s Virtuosi”, joining the DVD production Yellow Lounge. Since March 2016 he has held a scholarship from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Dominik Wagner was born on July 8th, 1997 in Vienna. He started playing the cello in the year 2002 and in 2007 he switched to double bass.

From 2007 to 2011 he was a member of the Vienna Boys Choir and in the year 2008 he started being an alto soloist. During their Concerts he also performed as a soloist on the cello and the double bass.

2009 Dominik started studying at the "Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien" with Prof. Josef Niederhammer and Mag.Werner Fleischmann.

Besides national youth-competitions (Prima la musica: first prize, ESTA special prize, 2012 and 2014; Allegro Vivo: prize winner as a Soloist and in Chamber Music, 2012; second Hertha Binder Classic prize of "Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien", 2012; musica juventutis: he won a performance at the "Wiener Konzerthaus", 2014) and international youth-competitions (International Competition for young double bass players, Gnesin Academy, Moscow: first prize, 2012) he also participated in the biggest international competitions without age limit (International Leos Janacek Competition, Brno, Czech Republic: third prize, 2013; International Golden Bass Competition, Lviv, Ukraine: first prize and special prize for the youngest participant, 2013).

2014 he won the prize for string soloists at the ISA Prag-Wien-Budapest and will participate in the finals of the Osaka Competition, October 2014

As a soloist (concerts by J.B. Vanhal, Karl D.v. Dittersdorf, G. Bottesini and Nino Rota) he performed with the Young Master Players of the Wiener Musikuniversität, the Polish Chamberphilharmoic Orchestra under Wojciech Rajski, the Moravian Chamber Orchestra under Richard Kruzik, the Franz Schmidt Kammerorchester under Nicolas Radulescu and the Opera Studio Orchestra, Lviv under Yuriy Bervetskij.

He participated in Master classes and took lessons with Petru Iuga, Bernhard Ziegler, Christine Hoock, Dorin Marc, Johannes Auersperg, Roman Patkolo, Jiri Hudec and Catalin Rotaru.

He is member of the LGT Young Soloists, Zürich, Switzerland, a Project founded by the LGT Private Bank .September 2014 he won the second prize and the extra prize for the best interpretation of the comissioned modern piece at the International J.M. Sperger Competition and in October 2014 he won the first prize, the Chaiman of Jury Award and the Ongaku Gendai Award for the best interpretation of contemporary music at the Osaka International Competition