KLANGFORUM WIEN

Twenty-four musicians from ten different countries work together, guided by the idea of restoring to music its rightful place in contemporary society.

Founded by Beat Furrer, the ensemble has premiered about 500 new works. It has over 70 recordings to its credit as well as numerous honours and awards, and has given about 2000 concerts at the most prestigious concert venues, opera houses and festivals in Europe, the Americas, and Japan. 

Over the years Klangforum Wien has formed strong artistic and emotional bonds with eminent composers, conductors, soloists and event organisers. These contacts have shaped the ensemble’s profile. In recent years many Klangforum musicians as well as the ensemble as a whole have been increasingly involved in passing their knowledge of technique and forms of musical expression to new generations of instrumentalists and composers. Since 2009 the musicians have been implementing their programme at the University of Performing Arts in Graz.

The Klangforum Wien musicians come from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Italy. They unanimously decided to award an honorary membership of Klangforum Wien to Sylvain Cambreling (the first guest conductor of the ensemble since 1997), Friedrich Cerha, and Beat Furrer. 

Directions for the ensemble’s activities are set at monthly meetings of its members, which serve to constantly de ne the collective will of the artists. For them music is an expression of their responsibility for the present and future. Like the ensemble’s art, Klangforum Wien itself is a force to improve the world. The moment the musicians step onto the stage, they know that only one thing counts: everything. Eros and strength of conviction are at the root of the inimitable quality of their concerts. 

For information about the ensemble’s history, figures, dates and facts, please visit our website at www.klangforum.at. In this brief introduction we thought it more worthwhile to present the ensemble’s nature rather than to follow the convention by publishing statistics.