About
Karlheinz Essl is an Austrian composer, performer, sound artist, improviser, and composition teacher.
Essl was born in Vienna. His studies at the University of Music in Vienna included: composition (under Friedrich Cerha), electro-acoustic music (under Dieter Kaufmann) and double bass. At the University of Vienna he studied musicology (1989 doctoral thesis on Das Synthese-Denken bei Anton Webern). In 1990-94 he was "composer in residence" at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, while in 1992-93 he worked on a commission at IRCAM in Paris. From 1992 to 2016, he was the music curator of the Essl Collection in Klosterneuburg/Vienna. Between 1995–2006 he taught Algorithmic composition at the Studio for Advanced Music & Media Technology at the Anton Bruckner Private University for Music, Drama, and Dance in Linz, Austria. As of 2007, Essl is professor of composition for electro-acoustic and experimental music at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.