Simon Oberleitner is a pianist, composer and improviser.

Between form and openness, he develops music in which jazz, classical music and contemporary experimental sound worlds converge. Improvisational freedom and interpretative precision complement one another within a stylistically diverse musical field that ranges from collaborations with large ensembles and interdisciplinary formats involving dance, performance art and literature to intimate small-group settings.
His music has received international recognition in media such as Jazzwise (UK), Jazz Magazine France (FR), Mainly Piano (USA) and Der Standard (AUT), as well as through premieres in concert halls including the Wiener Konzerthaus and the Musikverein Wien. His albums have been released on Col Legno, Intersections and ATS Records.

His most recent album, Light Works (Col Legno, 2024), combines Renaissance music with improvisation and ambient sound textures. Together with the vocal ensemble Company of Music and the European jazz trio Hour of the Owl, historical vocal works are brought into an open contemporary sonic context. The album explores themes of heritage and transience, continuing the conceptual trajectory of the earlier releases Crumbling Light (ATS Records, 2017) and Wendolins Monocle (Intersections, 2022), both of which engage with questions of perception, transformation and scale.
Further central projects include solo programs between classical music, jazz and electronics, as well as the freely improvising duo Bishop/Oberleitner with Norwegian artist John Derek Bishop, where piano and live sampling intersect. A particular focus of his work lies in the ongoing collaboration with singers, vocal ensembles and choirs, as well as with artists from other disciplines, including visual artist Roos van Haaften (NL), performance artist Hanne Pilgrim (GER), and actor and author Klaus Haberl (AUT). Rather than emphasizing the contrast between different musical languages, his work is driven by the search for shared resonant spaces.

His artistic activities include international engagements and commissions in Los Angeles, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Germany. He has collaborated with musicians such as Claus Hessler (DE), John Derek Bishop (NOR), Gary Smulyan (US), Richard Österreicher, Roman Schwaller, Oliver Steger, Gina Schwarz, Veronika Morscher, Konstantin Kräutler-Horváth, Andreas Waelti, Rafael Fingerlos and Johannes Hiemetsberger. His compositions have been premiered at venues including the Wiener Konzerthaus, Musikverein Wien, Volkstheater Wien and Musiktheater Linz, and range from works for smaller ensembles to large-scale compositions and commissioned works, among others for Company of Music and Chorus sine nomine. Alongside works for acoustic instruments, the integration of electronic elements and tape forms an important part of his compositional practice.

Simon Oberleitner is Senior Lecturer for applied piano at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where his teaching encompasses improvised song accompaniment, applied piano, improvisation, arrangement/composition and score reading. He is also regularly active as a lecturer for professional development courses and as a jury member at competitions.

He received his artistic and pedagogical education at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna (MUK). There he studied jazz piano, classical piano and electronic keyboards, as well as music pedagogy and vocal pedagogy with Oliver Kent, Heribert Kohlich, Michael Starch, Stefan Gottfried and Margarete Jungen.