Georg Tintner was born in Vienna in 1917. He began studying piano at the age of six and to compose soon after. From 1926 to 1930, he was a member of the Vienna Boys Choir, singing, among other things, the three Masses of Bruckner under the composer’s student Franz Schalk. At the age of thirteen, Tintner entered the Vienna State Academy, where he studied composition with Josef Marx and conducting with Felix Weingartner. In 1933 he trained the children's chorus for a performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony with Bruno Walter; his compositions were being broadcast, and at 1936 he became Assistant Conductor at the Vienna Volksoper.

As a Jew, Tintner escaped from Vienna in 1938. He finally arrived in New Zealand, moving to Australia in 1954 as Resident Conductor of the National Opera. In the following years he toured Australia widely and pioneered television opera. Since moving to Canada at the end of 1987 to become Music Director of Symphony Nova Scotia, Tintner has been in great demand across the country. He has appeared with all major Canadian orchestras, including several appearances with the Toronto Symphony and Montreal Symphony. He has also appeared with the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit. Tintner has made many appearances at the Sydney Opera House, and he teaches master classes every year in the Czech Republic.

Georg Tintner had a special affinity with Bruckner and conducted his works on five continents. In his last years, he recorded Bruckner’s complete eleven symphonies for Naxos, which brought him a worldwide reputation as a Brucknerian. When he had a conversation with the reviewer Richard Whitehouse, he said, "The worse our age becomes, the more we need music that consoles: music that is full of repose, and is restful in itself. There is space for Bruckner and for Mahler, but for the opposite reasons. Mahler was the prophet of Angst and horror, whereas Bruckner transcends this condition. Working extensively with youth orchestras, I've found that the spiritual ecstasy in Bruckner's music is what young people immediately respond to. I think they realize that we need him, desperately. That is why his influence and importance is on the increase all the time. Personally, I couldn't imagine living without his music."

The great conductor just passed away in 1999. Tintner, 82 at the time, reportedly had been suffering from terminal cancer. Early in October, he jumped from the eleventh story of his Nova Scotia home rather than suffer the pain and disorientation associated with his disease and its treatment. Tintner died as he had lived: a person of principle. When he recognized that he was unable to continue making music, he ended his life.