Günter Pichler, Austrian violinist, teacher and conductor, died on April 24, 2026, in a traffic collision.
He was 85. Pichler was the first violin in the Alban Berg Quartett.
Born on September 9, 1940, in Kufstein, he was accepted at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna in 1955 and joined the Vienna Symphony as concertmaster at 18. At 21, he became concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic. From 1963 to 2009, he taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, and from 1993 to 2012 at Cologne University of Music. In 2007, he was appointed head of chamber music at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Günter Pichler, 85, Austrian violinist (Alban Berg Quartett), traffic collision.