ASPEKTE Salzburg
The contemporary music festival ASPEKTE Salzburg was founded in 1977 by Klaus Ager, making it one of the oldest contemporary music festivals in Austria. From its inception, various areas of contemporary creativity have been drawn into the festival, including cross-over, non-European, experimental and electro-acoustic music, as well as dance, movement and music-theatre projects. These have occurred in addition to the regular programs of innovative contemporary music. Over the years, numerous composers of note have been brought to Salzburg. The appearances of John Cage (1991), Mauricio Kagel (1989 and 1998), Iannis Xenakis (1982), Alexander Knaifel (1983), Brian Ferneyhough (1996) and Giya Kancheli (2000) were overwhelmingly successful. Since 2006, the composer Ludwig Nussbichler has filled the role of director of ASPEKTE Salzburg.