Klangforum Wien Orchestra
On 13 June 1985, the foundation stone was laid for a multi-faceted history of success in the creation of new music. The founding of Klangforum Wien as a soloists’ ensemble not only created excellent conditions for the adequate execution of even the most complex scores, but has also led to numerous encounters with highly talented musicians in the ensemble’s masterclasses and especially within the framework of the ensemble’s own professorship at the University of Music and Performing Art in Graz. These musicians have become key collaborators with the ensemble. With them, the ensemble’s established framework is now being expanded to create the Klangforum Wien Orchestra, enabling the ensemble to also perform large-scale contemporary orchestral works.
Open-minded, virtuoso in playing and aurally perceptive, Klangforum Wien, one of the most internationally renowned ensembles for new music and with an unmistakable sound, is dedicated to artistic creativity and the expansion of today’s experiential spaces. Since its foundation by Beat Furrer in 1985, this multi-award-winning ensemble has shaped contemporary music history, with world premieres of around 600 compositions by composers from four continents, an extensive discography of more than ninety recordings and appearances at the most important concert halls and opera houses, as well as participation in youthful initiatives and major festivals in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Over the years the ensemble has developed deep and lasting friendships through mutually enriching collaborations with prominent composers. Since 2009 the ensemble has dedicated itself to passing on expressive forms of performance and playing techniques to a new generation of musicians, as part of its collective professorship in Graz.
The 25 musicians of Klangforum Wien come from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA. From the start of the 2018/19 season until summer 2022 Bas Wiegers took over as principal guest conductor from Sylvain Cambreling, who remains principal guest conductor emeritus. In January 2024 Elena Schwarz and Vimbayi Kaziboni took on the new roles of Conductors in Residence. Peter Paul Kainrath has been director of Klangforum Wien since January 2020.
Klangforum Wien has its own concert series in the Vienna Konzerthaus. Every year the ensemble commissions new compositions and gives numerous world premieres and first performances. The honorary members of Klangforum Wien are Georges Aperghis, Friedrich Cerha, Barbara Fränzen, Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, Lothar Knessl, Bernhard Lang, Olga Neuwirth, Peter Oswald, Enno Poppe, Rebecca Saunders and Salvatore Sciarrino.