The Value of Creativity

Over the years, the Erste Bank Composition Award, brought into being in 1989 and subsequently awarded based on recommendations of juror Lothar Knessl, has become one of the most important distinctions in the field of new music in Austria. The previous 18 prize-winners reflect the stylistic scope of contemporary composing, and highlight important contours of the Austrian new music landscape. Individual portraits and analyses, as well as an introductory essay render the multifaceted spectrum of new Austrian music over the last quarter of a century.

Author Daniel Ender studied musicology, philosophy, German philology, piano and organ in Vienna, and works as a freelance musicologist and music journalist with a focus on new music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

The book was published by Sonderzahl Verlag.

The Erste Bank Composition Award 2002–2007, CD Box Set

In the year 1989, Erste Bank developed a sponsoring concept for contemporary music. The concept focuses on the annual support of a composer. Since 2002, the works that have received the Erste Bank Composition Award have been premiered by the musicians of Klangforum Wien at the WIEN MODERN festival and have been presented at subsequent concerts. The piece is then recorded on CD the following year. The CD label Kairos is the partner that guarantees substantial and long-term distribution of these productions internationally.

The collection Der Erste Bank-Kompositionsauftrag 2002–2007 was produced in 2008 by KAIROS.

With musical contributions by:
Composition Award 2002: JOHANNES MARIA STAUD Berenice. Lied vom Verschwinden
Composition Award 2003: CLEMENS GADENSTÄTTER Comic Sense
Composition Award 2004: WOLFRAM SCHURIG Ultima Thule
Composition Award 2005: WOLFGANG MITTERER coloured noise 
Composition Award 2006 BERNHARD GANDER Bunny Games 
Composition Award 2007 KLAUS LANG the book of serenity

With text contributions by:
Ecke Bonk, Lisa D., Erwin Bohatsch, Irene Dapunt, Marie-Therese Harnoncourt, Händl Klaus, PRINZGAU/podgorschek, Durs Grünbein, Thorsten Palzhoff, Kathrin Röggla

Box set with six CDs (2008)