“Some chances along the way have come about more or less by chance. But ultimately, behind the success are diligence and two decades of passionate work. Today my compositions are performed around the world and in the most remote corners, and I actually still can't believe it. This website is dedicated to all friends of my music worldwide.”
(Otto M. Schwarz)
Born in Lower Austria, he received his first musical training at the Music School in Wimpassing and later at the Music Academy in Vienna. There he was admitted in 1978 as the youngest student in the preparatory class of Prof. Franz Weiss. Further studies followed with the Vienna Philharmonic, Prof. Josef Pomberger for trumpet and with Prof. Heinz Kratochwil for composition. At the age of 15, alongside his studies, his talent for composition began to emerge. Otto M. Schwarz had his first successes in the field of pop music. Three of his early compositions were released as singles and were placed in the Austrian charts of the pop radio station Ö3.
For the title "Der Weg zur Freiheit" he received the prize for the best composition in the preliminary round of the European Song Contest in 1989. This prize was not decided by the public, but was determined by the Austrian Composers' Association from over 600 entries. Inspired by this success, he set up his own recording studio almost three years later, where he has produced thousands of titles to date.
As a composer, he now works for advertising, film music and signature tunes for major television stations such as ARD, ZDF, ORF, RTL and many more. Through cooperation with renowned international publishers, his CDs are played and sold in over 80 countries around the world. An estimated 2 million CDs with his compositions were sold over the counter or found their new owners via official downloads.
Since 2001, Otto M. Schwarz has been producing almost exclusively film music for international film productions. The film "Um Kopf und collar" from the Polizeiruf 110 series was the first full-length production with his participation and reached over 6 million viewers.
Since autumn 2001 he has been working with LISA and MONA Film. Productions were created for the German television stations ARD, ZDF, the Austrian broadcaster ORF and the Italian television RAI.
In March 2002, the film adaptation of the novel “The Waterfalls of Slunj”, which he set to music, received an award at the Venice TV Festival. Films with Horst Tappert (Heart Without a Crown) and Franco Nero (The Eighth Deadly Sin, The Death Carousel) followed. "Anna's Second Chance" received the 2009 Diva Award for the most watched German film production. (01/02/2009, ARD, 7.44 million viewers)
Later he took over the film music production for well-known series such as Alpenklinik, Lilly Schönauer, Die Landärztin, SOKO Kitzbühel and Agathe can't help it. Further collaborations in films by the directors Josef Vilsmaier, Holger Barthel, Karsten Wichniarz, Peter Patzak, Michael Zens, Helmut Metzger and many others followed.
The “S Class” Symphonic Orchestra
Since 1995 he has published symphonic compositions with the Dutch music publisher De Haske, the Swiss publisher Mitropa and the American publisher Hal Leonard. Works like Nostradamus, Around the World in 80 Days, Dragon Fight, Man in the Ice, Bonaparte and many more. are successfully performed all over the world.
In 2013, Otto M. Schwarz delivered his first own production for large symphony orchestra under the programmatic name "Symphonic Dimensions". Some of his most popular compositions have been rearranged for this line-up and have been available on CD or download since December 2013. Further work in this direction is already in progress.
