The Linzer Klangwolke is an open-air multimedia musical event held each year since 1979 in early September in the Linz Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 Park in the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n town of Linz

Linz

Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...

. It is organized by the Austrian broadcasting company Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) and the Brucknerhaus

Brucknerhaus

The Brucknerhaus is a festival and congress centre in Linz, Austria named after the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner Its construction took place from 1969 to 1973. It opened on 23 March 1974....

. Admission is free.

The Cloud of Sound currently consists of three concerts of modern music, 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 concert attracts an audience of about 100,000. The classic Cloud of Sound is the opening concert of the Brucknerfest, performed without visualization. The children's Cloud of Sound, an afternoon event since 1998, provides musical stories for younger listeners.

History

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

Ars Electronica

Ars Electronica is an organization based in Linz, Austria, founded in 1979 around a festival for art, technology and society that was part of the International Bruckner Festival. Herbert W. Franke is one of its founders. It became its own festival and a yearly event in 1986. Its director until 1995...

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

Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...

. 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

Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last Symphony the composer completed. It exists in two major versions of 1887 and 1890. It was premiered under conductor Hans Richter in 1892 in Vienna...

 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

Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major is one of the composer's most popular works. It was written in 1874 and revised several times through 1888. It was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. It was premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna with great success...

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.

External links

• History of the Klangwolke, listing the works performed each year
• Linzer Klangwolke website
• Website for the children's Cloud of Sound