Resident ensemble

Klangforum Wien is an ensemble that is open-minded, virtuoso in performance and aurally perceptive; one of the most internationally recognized ensembles for contemporary music dedicated to artistic interpretation and the expansion of experiential space. A performance by the Klangforum Wien is an event in the truest sense of the word; it offers a sensual, immediate and unmissable experience; and the novelty in its music speaks, acts and seduces. Ever since it was founded by Beat Furrer in 1985, the ensemble – which has received great many awards and distinctions over the years – has made music history: it has presented around 600 world premières of works by composers from four continents; it boasts an extensive discography of more than 90 releases, appearances in major concert and opera venues, but also performances in the context of young, committed initiatives, and at the major music festivals in Europe, America and Asia. Through mutually rewarding collaborations with many of the world’s leading composers, the ensemble has formed a great number of formative artistic friendships. Since 2009, the musicians of the Klangforum Wien have been dedicated to sharing their mastery of playing techniques and forms of expression with a new generation of artists as part of their collective professorship at the University of Music, Graz. Klangforum Wien is made up of 23 musicians from Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. At the start of the 2018/19 season, Bas Wiegers was appointed First Guest Conductor, succeeding Sylvain Cambreling who, however, has maintained a close relationship with the ensemble as its First Guest Conductor Emeritus. Peter Paul Kainrath has been the ensemble’s new director since January 1, 2020.