Klangforum Wien II.

She studied at the Academy of Music in Vienna and the San Francisco Conservatory, and then privately with Adriana Hölszky, Tristan Murail and Luigi Nono. One of Olga Neuwirth’s key collaborators is Austrian Nobel Prize-winning playwright and novelist Elfriede Jelinek, with whom she created two radio plays and three operas. Her music is performed and presented by some of the world’s most distinguished orchestras and festivals. In 1998, when she was aged 30, the Salzburg Festival dedicated two concerts to her music, and in 2002 she was appointed Composer-in-Residence of the Lucerne Festival. For Pierre Boulez and the London Symphony Orchestra she wrote the piece Clinamen/Nodus, and for the Vienna Philharmonic the composition Masaot/Clocks without Hands, which was performed in Cologne, in Vienna and at New York’s Carnegie Hall under conductor Valery Gergiev. In September 2021 the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Jakub Hrůša gave the world premiere of her new work Keyframes for a Hippogriff. Neuwirth has had a lifelong interest in film, literature, architecture and fine art, all of which have had a fundamental influence on her work. In addition to classical music compositions she has also produced several multimedia installations and short films, and she has written a series of articles and a book. In 2017, in association with IRCAM, she crafted a 3D sound installation to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The Vienna State Opera’s production of her opera Orlando, based on the novel by Virginia Woolf, was one of the major talking points on the music scene in 2019.

This is primarily thanks to the contribution from one of the most high-ranking ensembles specialising in contemporary music, Klangforum Wien, who will assume the role of Ensemble-in-Residence for the next three festival editions. “We have succeeded in securing extremely productive collaboration for this venture, namely by involving Klangforum in the early stages of the project. We are thus able to utilise their experience and contacts acquired over the decades they have been active as a leading ensemble on the international contemporary music scene,” says the festival’s Programme Director Josef Třeštík. Klangforum Wien will appear at two evening concerts and, via public workshops and master classes, they will hand down their expertise to the young generation of composers and instrumentalists.  

Each year Prague Offspring will have a Composer-in-Residence, whose work will be featured on the festival’s concert programmes. In 2022 Prague will host Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth, one of the world’s most sought-after artists. “Olga Neuwirth has been the subject of wide discussion in recent years, particularly in connection with the premiere of her opera Orlando at the Vienna State Opera. After the renewal of concert life in September 2021, the premiere of her new work Keyframes for a Hippogriff performed by the Berlin Philharmonic and the conductor Jakub Hrůša won great acclaim”, says Mr Třeštík. She has been one of the most fascinating and most important composers for several decades now. We are delighted that she has agreed to take part in our festival”, he adds. 

Prague Offspring will also host the premieres of works by renowned composers that have been commissioned by the festival – this year it’s the turn of Martin Smolka. The most promising talents will be given an opportunity as well – Jakub Rataj, Lucie Vítková, Adrián Demoč, Konstantin Heuer and Ian Mikyska. And that’s certainly not all. Festival audiences can look forward to encounters with musicians and artists, a panel discussion featuring major names on the European contemporary music scene, a performative installation by composer Matouš Hejl and director Aleš Čermák, and a lecture and performance by architect of the DOX+ building complex Petr Hájek, who conceived the concert hall itself as a musical instrument. And we’ll wind things up with a closing party, at which composer Kontantin Heuer will act as DJ.  

“Prague Offspring is a new tradition for the Prague Spring festival – crunchy, a bit mischievous, young, open, experimental,” is how the new format is defined by Miroslav Srnka, composer and member of the Prague Spring’s Artistic Board. “Prague is reinforcing its name on the European map of cutting-edge music. The capital’s entire DOX complex will come alive with sound for an entire weekend, when fans of the latest from the music scene will appreciate that being in Prague is starting to pay off.”