Born in Graz in 1953, he studied composition with Gösta Neuwirth and Iván Erőd, piano with Doris Wolf, and music education at the Graz Hochschule für Musik. He lectured there until 1997 on counterpoint, contemporary compositional techniques, analysis, and microtonal music. He also continued his composition studies with Friedrich Cerha in Vienna (1981–83), attended the Darmdstadt Courses (1980, 1988, 1990) and spent a year at IRCAM studying computer music (1991).

He held a fellowship from the Salzburg Festival (1992–93), a grant from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Culture (1995), and received numerous awards: the Sandoz Prize (1992), City of Vienna Ernst Křenek Prize (1998, for the chamber opera Nacht), UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers Prize (2000, for the Violin Concerto), Andrzej Dobrowolski Composition Award in Graz (2004), Grand Austrian State Prize (2007), and the Musikpreis Salzburg (2013). In 1999 his music was presented at the Salzburg Festival within the Next Generation series. In 2001 he served as a composer-in-residence at the Collegium Novum Zurich, and in 2011 at the Lucerne Festival. He has received commissions from the festivals in Stuttgart, Bregenz, Witten and Donaueschingen, from the Alban Berg Foundation, Klangspuren in Schwaz, the Munich Biennale and Musica Viva.

His works are performed by leading orchestras and ensembles: the Berlin Philharmonic, Klangforum Wien, the Kairos Quartett, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Cleveland Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic, radio orchestras in Baden-Baden, Cologne and Munich, and have been featured at such festivals as Wien Modern, Musikprotokoll in Graz, Bregenz Festival, Ars Musica in Brussels, Insel Musik Berlin, Musik der Zeit in Cologne, Akiyoshidai Festival, Festival d’Automne in Paris, the Huddersfield Festival and Musica Nova in Helsinki, during the Darmstadt Courses, at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, as well as in Zurich, Seville, Barcelona, Royaumont, Oslo and New York.

Georg Friedrich Haas has published papers on the music of Luigi Nono, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Alois Hába and Pierre Boulez. In 2002 he resumed his teaching at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz and in 2005 he began to teach composition at the Music Academy of the City of Basel, where he currently lives.

Selected works (since 1995): Nacht, chamber opera to texts by Friedrich Hölderlin (1995–96), Violin Concerto (1998), Torso for orchestra, after Schubert’s Piano Sonata in C Major D840 (1999–2000), Blumenstück for choir, bass tuba and string quintet (2000), in vain for 24 instruments with notated lighting sequences (2000), de terrae fine for violin (2001), flow and friction for microtonal piano four hands (2001), tria ex uno for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, piano and percussion (2001), In iij Noct. – String Quartet No. 3 (2001), Die schöne Wunde, chamber opera to texts by Franz Kafka and Edgar Allan Poe (2002–03), Natures mortes for large orchestra (2003), String Quartet No. 4 with live electronics (2003), Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (2003–04), Opus 68 for orchestra, after Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 9 (2004), Haiku for baritone and 10 instruments (2004), Ritual – Freiluftmusik for 12 big drums and three brass orchestras (2004), 7 Klangräume for choir and orchestra, after unfinished fragments of Mozart’s Requiem (2005), Poème for large orchestra (2005), Hyperion, concerto for lights and orchestra (2006), Hertervig-Studien for six voices (2006), Sayaka for percussion and accordion (2006), Melancholia, opera (2006–07), Bruchstück for large orchestra (2007), Open Spaces for 12 strings and two percussions (2007), String Quartet No. 5 (2007), REMIX for chamber ensemble (2007), Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2007), Guitar Quartet (2007), Ins Licht for violin, cello and piano (2007), Concerto for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra (2008), Les temps tiraillés for two violas, bassoon and electronics (2008), ...wie stille brannte das Licht for soprano and piano or chamber ensemble (2009), Unheimat for 19 strings (2009), Traum in des Sommers Nacht for orchestra (2009), Atthis for soprano and eight instruments (2010), La profondeur for 13 instruments (2010), limited approximations for six retuned pianos and orchestras (2010), Arthur F. Becker (od. Buhr?) for two vocal quartets, bass, clarinet, cello and percussion (2010), ...damit ...die Geister der Menschen erhellt und ihr Verstand erleuchtet werden... for ensemble (2010), AUS.WEG for eight instruments (2010), String Quartet No. 6 (2011), chants oubliés for chamber orchestra (2011), String Quartet No. 7 (2011), Mlake / Laaken for soprano and countertenor (2011), Duchcov for choir (2011), Schweigen for voices (2011), Ich suchte, aber ich fand ihn nicht for ensemble (2012), ...e finisci già for orchestra (2012), Tetraedrite for orchestra (2012), Nocturno, opera (2013), Thomas, opera (2013).