Olga Neuwirth

Olga Neuwirth
Biography

Olga Neuwirth (born 4 August 1968 in Graz) is an Austrian composer. As a child at the age of seven, Neuwirth began lessons on the trumpet. She later studied composition in Vienna at the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts under Erich Urbanner, while studying at the Electroacoustic Institute. Her thesis was written on themusic in Alain Resnais’s film L’Amour a mort. In 1985/86, she studied music and art at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Elinor Armer. In 1993/94 she studied with Tristan Murail and worked at IRCAM, producing such works as “…?risonanze!…” for viola d’amore. Earlier in her career, Neuwirth had the chance to meet with Italian composer Luigi Nono, who had similarly radical politics, and has claimed this had a strong influence on her life. In 2000, Neuwirth was appointed Composer-in-Residence of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, Antwerp, and in 2002 she was appointed Composer-in-Residence at the Lucerne Festival (together with Pierre Boulez).