Klaus Ager

Who is Klaus Ager?

Klaus Ager is an Austrian composer and conductor.

Ager studied piano, composition, and conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and musicology at Salzburg University. He continued his studies in composition with Pierre Schaeffer and Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire. From 1975 to 1986 he directed the Österreichische Ensemble für Neue Musik. In 1977 he founded the ASPEKTE-FESTIVAL, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2006. From 1995 to 2000 he was Rector of the Mozarteum Hochschule in Salzburg. Beginning in 2000 Klaus Ager dedicated himself principally to activity as a guest composer in South and North America, and established himself throughout Europe for an improved standing for composers. In 2003 he was able to achieve through his mustering of relevant subsidies and innovative articles, that the Arovell-Musikzeitschrift was expanded to a color edition with a circulation of 700 copies per quarter. Since April 2004 he has been president of the Österreichischer Komponistenbund. In this office he initiated, amongst other things, the congress "Komponieren im Europa des 21. Jahrhunderts", which took place from 2 to 5 February 2006 in the Gläsernen Saal of the Wiener Musikvereins and had as its most important result the development of a network of all the European composer federations.