| Description: | Born in Vienna, Heiller was first trained in church music by Wilhelm Mück, organist of Vienna's Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral). He then combined work at the Vienna Volksoper with further study at the Vienna Academy of Music under Bruno Seidlhofer (piano, organ, harpsichord) and Friedrich Reidinger (music theory and composition). In 1945, he both graduated from the Academy, and was appointed organ teacher there, and became professor in 1957.
In 1952 he won the International Organ Competition in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and toured both Europe and the United States, where his organ recitals at Harvard University (on the then new C.B. Fisk instrument in Memorial Church) — still available on a 4-CD boxed set of compact discs — were particularly appreciated.
Heiller recorded most of his large repertory, which ranged from Gabrieli and Buxtehude through Bach to Reger and his good friend Hindemith. His many compositions, influenced by Paul Hindemith and Frank Martin, were often dodecaphonic and include an organ concerto (1963) and a concerto for organ and harpsichord (1972). Heiller died unexpectedly and prematurely in Vienna, collapsing after choking on food.
Among his many students we find Monique Gendron, Judy Glass, Yuko Hayashi, Grant Hellmers, Monika Henking, Wolfgang Karius, Jan Kleinbussink, Bernard Lagacé, Brett Leighton, Peter Planyavsky, Michael Radulescu, Christa Rakich, Paula Pugh Romanaux, Christa Rumsey, David Rumsey, David Sanger, Bruce Stevens, Sibyl Urbancic, and Jean-Claude Zehnder.
Published by Bonifatius in “Orgelstücke zum Gotteslob”, Vol. 2 |
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