The Linzer Klangwolke () (Linz Cloud of Sound) is an open-air multimedia musical event held each year since 1979 in early September in the Linz Danube Park in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

n town of

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

. It is organized by the

Brucknerhaus The Brucknerhaus () is a festival and congress centre in Linz, Austria named after the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. The building was designed by Finnish architects Heikki and Kaija Siren. Its construction took place from 1969 to 1973. It ope ...

Linz. The Cloud of Sound currently consists of three concerts of modern music, partially supplemented by visualizations. The series starts with the visualized Cloud of Sound, in which modern music (mostly commissioned works) is staged with lasers, video projections, fireworks, ships, cranes, balloons, etc. This event attracts an audience of about 100,000 each year and is one of the largest European open-air events with no admission. The classic Cloud of Sound is a classical concert at the Great Hall of the Brucknerhaus Linz, performed without visualization. The children's Cloud of Sound, an afternoon event since 1998, provides musical stories for younger listeners. All three Cloud of Sounds are part of the

Brucknerfest The International Brucknerfest Linz is an annual series of music events held in Linz. The music event series is named after Anton Bruckner and is organised by the Brucknerhaus. The Brucknerfest was introduced in 1974 on the initiative of the a ...

History

Dr. Hannes Leopoldseder, director of the ORF's Upper Austria Regional Studio, was looking for something to connect the

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the ...

(a festival for art, technology and society) and the Brucknerfest, honoring Austrian composer

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...

. Discussions with Munich musician and composer Walter Haupt eventually led to the event's creation. On 18 September 1979, 100,000 people listened as a studio pre-recording of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor was broadcast through a 20 kilowatt quadrophonic speaker system, opening the Brucknerfest. In 1980, the Bruckner Orchester Linz, under Theodor Guschlbauer, performed Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 live. Since 1980, the event has been transmitted live from the Brucknerhaus. Currently, speakers with a total power of 250 kilowatts are installed on cranes in front of the Brucknerhaus between the Nibelungen Bridge and a railway bridge. Artists and artist groups that played at the Sound of Cloud were Airan Berg, Parov Stelar, Beda Percht, Hubert Lepka & Lawine Torrèn, Xailabs GmbH, and the artist group Helix. In 2019, the visualized cloud of sound celebrated its 40th birthday with an anniversary edition.

References

External links

History of the Klangwolke
listing the works performed each year
Linzer Klangwolke website

Website for the children's Cloud of Sound
{{Authority control Festivals in Linz Music festivals in Austria Electronic music festivals in Austria