
Wolfgang Klinser was born into a musical family in Upper Austria in 1965. He received his first music lessons at the age of six from his grandfather, who taught composition and piano at the Vienna Conservatory.
After eight years of clarinet lessons at the music school, during which he won several prizes in Austria's regional and national "Jugend musiziert" competitions, he began concert clarinet studies at Vienna University of Music under Professor Horst Hajek. When he graduated with distinction, he was awarded the honorary prize of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Arts.
Wolfgang Klinser was principal clarinettist with various orchestras, including the Munich Philharmoniker, before answering a call from Graz University of the Arts. He then devoted himself to chamber music and chamber orchestra practice. He is currently principal clarinet with the Salzburg Camerata and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.
In 2012, he was invited as clarinet soloist by the Wiener Philharmoniker for a tour of Australia, China and Japan conducted by Christoph Eschenbach.
As a soloist, he performs regularly, notably on several occasions at the Salzburg Festival with the Camerata Salzburg. He also performed with this orchestra under Giovanni Antonini in the Mozarteum's Great Hall, and during Mozart Week in Salzburg in January 2014 under Louis Langrée. At the Vienna Konzerthaus, he was soloist with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra under Heinrich Schiff, and at the Haydn Days in Eisenstadt with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Symphony Orchestra under Christopher Hogwood. With this orchestra, he also appeared as soloist and conductor at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.
His chamber music tours have taken him to Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, England, Venezuela, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.