Alfred Prinz is an Austrian composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

ist, and music educator. In 1947 he was awarded a Gold Medal at the Geneva Music Competition and in 1971 he won a composition award from the city of Vienna. His compositional output includes 7 symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, many concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

s, several works for solo piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, songs, and chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

. In 1998 his Fünf Goethe-Lieder (Five Goethe Songs) were premiered by soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 Caroline Dowd-Higgins for whom Prinz had composed the pieces. As a concert clarinetist, he has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the world and performed in concerts of chamber music internationally. He has recorded for Ariola Records

Ariola Records

Ariola Records is a German record label. As of the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG which in turn has since become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment...

, Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

, Deutsche Grammophon

Deutsche Grammophon

Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...

, His Master's Voice, and the Telarc International Corporation

Telarc International Corporation

Telarc International Corporation is an independent record label, based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods...

 among other record labels.

Born in Vienna, Prinz began studying the clarinet at the age of 9 at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna with Leopold Wlach of the Vienna Philharmonic. He also earned a diploma in piano performance, studying from 1942 with Bruno Seidlhofer. He later studied music composition under Alfred Uhl

Alfred Uhl

Alfred Uhl was an Austrian composer, violist, music teacher and conductor.-Biography:Uhl studied with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Music Academy, receiving a diploma in composition with honours in 1932. He subsequently worked as Kapellmeister of the Swiss Festspielmusik in Zürich...

 and conducting under Hans Swarowsky

Hans Swarowsky

Hans Swarowsky was an Austrian conductor of Hungarian birth and Jewish descent.Swarowsky was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied the art of conducting under Felix Weingartner and Richard Strauss...

. In 1945, at the age of 15, he became a clarinetist in the Vienna State Opera Orchestra

Vienna State Opera

The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...

; and was the youngest performer ever to play for that ensemble. He later was principal clarinetist of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1955-1983.

As an educator, Prinz has taught clarinet at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna
since 1972. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Jacobs School of Music

Jacobs School of Music

The Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music...

 at Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

 since 1996. He has given numerous masterclasses at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg and at universities in Finland, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States.