Sounds of Now Vienna 2026
Sounds of Now Vienna 2026
Composition masterclasses
in the heart of Europe
3 - 14 August 2026
University of Music and
Performing Arts Vienna, Austria
Deadline to apply - 3 April 2026
There is no application fee
SONV is a festival dedicated to the creation and performance of new music. Here, aspiring composers can hone their craft and meet new colleagues in one of the world’s most prominent capitals of contemporary music.
Composition Master Classes in the Heart of Vienna
Join us during the summer of 2026 for an intense two weeks of individual lessons, presentations, and seminars with our renowned international faculty, and concerts featuring a roster of world-class resident ensembles and soloists.
3-14 August 2026
University of Music and Performing Arts • Vienna, Austria
A hands-on dive into the creative process
Participating composers will write a new work for one of our resident ensembles or soloists, who will actively workshop and rehearse the pieces with each composer and offer practical feedback.
Share your music with the world
Each work will receive a performance in one of the festival’s concerts. All concerts will be recorded with high audio and video quality, and these recordings will be made available to the participating composers.
Artists & Ensembles In Residence
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Mivos Quartet
“One of America’s most daring and ferocious new-music ensembles” (The Chicago Reader), the Mivos Quartet is devoted to performing works of contemporary composers and presenting diverse new music to international audiences.
Mivos has performed to critical acclaim on prestigious series such as Edinburgh International Festival (UK), Noon to Midnight (USA), Lucerne Festival (CH), Jazz at Lincoln Center (USA), the New York Phil Biennial (USA), Wien Modern (AT), the Darmstadt Internationalen Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (DE), rainy days festival (LU), Asphalt Festival (DE), HellHOT! New Music Festival (Hong Kong), Shanghai New Music Week (CN), Música de Agora na Bahia (Brazil), Aldeburgh Music (UK), and Lo Spririto della musica di Venezia (IT).
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Quasars Ensemble
Quasars Ensemble, is unique in its breadth of repertoire, consisting of contemporary classical music as well as of the music of the past eras. It confronts the latest contemporary works with the structural principles of the foregone classical music. The ensemble performed concert works of some of the world’s most influential contemporary music composers such as Bent Sørensen, Michael Jarrell, Kaija Saariaho, Toshio Hosokowa, Tristan Murail and Dai Fujikura, with composers themselves in attendance.
In 2012, Quasars Ensemble was selected to take part in International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. In addition, Quasars Ensemble has performed at Música Viva in Lisbon, Arcus Temporum in Pannonhalma, at Warsaw Autumn Festival and at Ostrava Days Festival, among others. It had the honor to play at Flagey in Brussels and at Gasteig in Munich. In Slovakia, it is a regular guest at festivals such as Bratislava Music Festival and Melos-Ethos.
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Judith Fliedl - Resident Violinist, Klangforum Wien
Judith Fliedl, the Austrian-born violinist, has distinguished herself in recent years as a concertmaster, soloist, and chamber musician. She has performed internationally in the USA, Canada, Korea, England, Germany, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and many other countries. In addition to engagements at renowned festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Windsor Festival, the Oxford Chamber Music Festival, the Pablo Casals Festival, the Musiktage Mondsee and the Impuls Festival Graz, she can be heard regularly at Austria's most important venues, such as the Vienna Konzerthaus or the Vienna Musikverein.
As a Resident Member of Klangforum Wien, she is dedicated to the constant expansion of her chamber music and solo modern repertoire. In the process, she has already been in lively exchange with composers such as Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, Johannes Maria Staud, Bernhard Gander, Johanna Doderer and Peter Ablinger. An important part of her work is researching and creating new, interdisciplinary concert formats.
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Duo Stump-Linshalm
Petra Stump-Linshalm and Heinz-Peter Linshalm have established the Stump-Linshalm Duo as one of today’s most compelling voices in contemporary clarinet performance. Driven by curiosity and a deep commitment to new music, they approach each collaboration as both a challenge and an artistic dialogue, often venturing beyond conventional performance practices to reveal the core ideas of a work. Their partnership began in 2003 with Bernhard Gander’s Mr. Vertigo for two basset horns and tape, sparking the interest of major composers such as Pierluigi Billone, Chaya Czernowin, and Beat Furrer. Acclaimed projects include Billone’s monumental 1+1=1, the international 34-piece collection ShortCuts, and several notable recordings on labels such as ein_klang, Kairos, Gramola, Naxos, orlando records, and God Records. The duo has performed at major venues and festivals such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Musikverein Wien, wien modern, Klangspuren Schwaz, Lucerne Festival, Myrkir Músíkdagar in Iceland, the Roaring Hooves Festival in Mongolia, and the 8th Totally Huge New Music Festival in Perth. Beyond the stage, they champion new clarinet literature through CLARINET UPDATE and engage young audiences through concerts and workshops.
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Alfredo Ovalles
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Alfredo Ovalles is a versatile pianist and composer who has delved into various musical realms. Drawing from his classical background and his experience performing in rock and pop bands in Caracas, he perceives music as a unified entity, where boundaries blur and insights gained from one genre inform his approach to seemingly unrelated musical settings.
Alfredo is highly sought after as a soloist and chamber musician. He has played concerts with orchestras such as the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Polish Baltic Philharmonic in Gdansk, Poland, and the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, among others. He has also performed at prestigious music festivals in Europe, including Wien Modern, Transart Festival in Bolzano, and the Warsaw Autumn Festival.
“With verve and symphonic colorfulness, Alfredo’s interpretation is delivered with full physical commitment and everything that goes with it.” (Pianist Magazine)
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Joel Diegert
American saxophonist Joel Diegert is a dynamic musician, representing a new young generation of international saxophonists. He has won prizes at several major international competitions and performs in the US and throughout Europe. He has appeared in concerts at the RadioKulturhaus (Vienna), Konzerthaus (Vienna), and Muzikgebouw (Amsterdam), and appearances at festivals such as Wien Modern (Vienna), Synthermeia Festival (Greece), and many of the Saxophone World Congresses held around the world. He is a member the saxophone quintet, FiveSax, as well as the piano-saxophone duo, Solaris Duo.
Composition Faculty
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Víctor Báez
Born in Mexico City, Víctor Báez studied composition at the Vienna Conservatory and at the University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw Wien). A Fulbright scholar, his awards include over ten annual commissions from the Austrian Ministry of Arts, Education and Culture for the creation of new works, the 2017 "Musik im Bild" prize for an orchestral work, and the 2021 "Tesselat Call for Scores" in all categories.
His music has been performed at festivals such as Wien Modern, Klangspuren Schwaz, Ostrava Days for New Music, OME Phoenix, Crosstown Arts Memphis, and the Manuel Enriquez International Forum for New Music in Mexico, by ensembles such as Yarn/Wire, Ekmeles, Contemporaneous, Blueshift, Ónix, the Webern Symphony Orchestra, Makrokosmos and more. His film music has been heard in festivals such as San Sebastián-Donostia, Guadalajara, Dubai, and Havana, among others.
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Adrián Artacho
Adrián Artacho is a composer with a focus on experimental and electroacoustic music. Born in Málaga (Spain), he has lived in Vienna since 2007. Artacho currently works as artistic researcher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he also teaches transmedia performance at the newly created Contemporary Arts Practice Master (CAP). In the year 2022, Artacho was the recipient of the National Composition Grant by the State of Austria.
Besides, Artacho is very active in science communication, developing different projects for the University of Vienna since 2017, including the Sounds of Matter composition competition.
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Daniel Oliver Moser
An Austrian composer and violist, Moser’s works have been commissioned and performed by numerous acclaimed artists and ensembles in concerts and festivals worldwide. He performs internationally with a focus on contemporary music and is a member of Quasars Ensemble (Bratislava) and Ensemble Zeitfluss (Graz). Portrait concerts focusing on his music have been performed at the Austrian National Library, at the Slovak RTV 2019, and at MusicOlomouc 2023.
He has taught Harmony, Composition and Analysis at the Music and Arts Private University Vienna and from 2020 to 2022 held a temporary Professorship for Composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he continues to teach as a Senior Lecturer for Music Theory.
Featured Guest Composer Faculty
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Dai Fujikura
Dai Fujikura is a composer based in London, UK. Born in 1977 in Osaka, Japan, Dai was fifteen when he moved to the UK and then studied under Sir. George Benjamin.
In recent years, his activities have been diverse. His opera, “A Dream of Armageddon,” based on a short story by H.G. Wells, which draws attention to the threat of totalitarianism, had its world premiere at the New National Theatre Tokyo in 2020. The opera was selected as the "Best of the Year" by numerous music magazines. In the same year, his Fourth Piano Concerto (Akiko's Piano), inspired by a piano owned by a woman who was a victim of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, had its world premiere. This was the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing and was released by Sony Music.
Following that year, “Entwine” was performed by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Hong Kong Sinfonietta. The Orchestre National de Bretagne and the New York Philharmonic are also scheduled to perform it in 2024.
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Margareta Ferek-Petric
Margareta Ferek-Petric is a Vienna-based composer whose work is marked by vivid theatricality, structural clarity, and an idiosyncratic sense of musical storytelling. She studied composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Chaya Czernowin, Klaus Peter Sattler, and Ivan Eröd, developing a voice that moves fluidly between experimental impulses and finely crafted orchestral writing. Her music has been recognized with numerous awards, including the SKE Fonds Publicity Prize (2021), the Prix Annelie De Man 2nd Prize and audience prize for Ištaratu (2018), and both the Boris Papandopulo and Josip Štolcer Slavenski awards for All the world’s a stage (2018). She has received major grants such as the City of Vienna Working Grant (2024) and support from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee (2022). Beyond composing, Ferek-Petric is active as a curator, juror, and cultural strategist, serving on boards and juries across Europe and North America, including SKE Fonds, the Goethe-Institut music advisory board, and the Azrieli Commission.
Location & Facilities
The University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw Wien) is one of the world’s largest and most renowned universities dedicated to the study of music, performing arts, and film. Its sprawling main campus, which houses the Composition department, welcomes over 3000 students every year, and features state-of-the-art teaching, practice, and performance facilities. The city of Vienna itself is a worldwide cultural powerhouse with year-round offerings. The university campus is within walking distance of two of the most important international musical venues: the Musikverein and the Wiener Konzerthaus.
Program Outline
The curriculum aims to motivate each participant to engage intensely with their own music and reflect on their creative process.
During the first week, the focus is placed mostly on seminars and presentations, as participants attend faculty lectures, present about their own work, and receive one-on-one lessons. At the same time, each participant will have opportunities to revise and finalize their works, in close collaboration with the performers. Each ensemble and soloist will have their own unique approach towards collaborating with their composers.
During the first and second weeks, participants will also attend rehearsals of their works, which will be programmed in one of the concerts taking place during the final week. Every participant will receive at least three individual lessons with core faculty, at least one masterclass session with a member of our featured guest faculty, and high-quality audio/video documentation of their performance.
Active participants who choose the accommodation-inclusive option will be housed in double occupancy rooms in a hotel within walking distance of the university campus. Tuition fee for this option includes breakfast and lunch on weekdays during both weeks. All meals outside this plan must be purchased at the participant’s own expense.
Lodging & Board
Tuition & Fees
Option 1: Accommodation Included
Tuition for Sounds of Now Vienna 2026 Opt 1 is €3650. It includes the following:
All lessons, masterclasses, seminars, and presentations.
Access to practice, instruction, and rehearsal facilities at mdw Wien.
Rehearsal and performance of your work by the festival’s artists and ensembles.
Lodging for the entire duration of the festival in a double occupancy hotel room. (Participants should plan to check in on Sunday, 2 August and check out on Saturday, 15 August).
Breakfast and lunch during weekdays for the two full weeks.
High-quality audio and video documentation of your performance.
Option 2: Accommodation Not Included
Tuition for Sounds of Now Vienna 2026 Opt 2 is €3100. It includes the following:
All lessons, masterclasses, seminars, and presentations.
Access to practice, instruction, and rehearsal facilities at mdw Wien.
Rehearsal and performance of your work by the festival’s artists and ensembles.
Participants under this plan must provide their own lodging. (They should plan to check in on Sunday, 2 August and check out on Saturday, 15 August).
Lunch during weekdays for the two full weeks.
High-quality audio and video documentation of your performance.
Option 3: Remote Participation
To ensure participants get the most out of the festival, we strongly encourage in-person participation. However, we understand that this may not always be possible due to travel restrictions and/or other reasons. In such cases, remote participation is a viable option for interested candidates.
Tuition for Sounds of Now Vienna 2026 Opt 3 is €2800. It includes the following:
Remote access to all lessons, masterclasses, seminars, and presentations.
Rehearsal and performance of your work by the festival’s artists and ensembles (participant is patched in remotely whenever possible).
High-quality audio and video documentation of your performance.
Tuition for auditors at SONV 2026 is €950. It includes the following:
Access to all lessons, masterclasses, seminars, and presentations as listener.
Access to practice, instruction, and rehearsal facilities at mdw Wien.
Lunch during weekdays for the two full weeks.
There is no fee to apply.
A limited number of merit-based scholarships is available and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Accepted applicants must secure their spot, independently of scholarship status, by paying a non-refundable deposit of €850 by 24 April, 2026. The deposit will be deducted from the full tuition amount, which is due on 29 May, 2026.
How to Apply
To apply, click the "Apply Now" button above and complete the online form. Application is open to all composers, regardless of nationality or professional status. Applicants must be 18 years of age or older as of 3 August, 2026.
At Sounds of Now Vienna, we firmly believe that charging application fees is a predatory and unjustifiable practice. Accordingly, we will never charge a fee to apply.
All applicants will need to provide the following:
Name
Contact information
Date of Birth
Citizenship
Link to a resumé or C.V.
Links to two work samples (scores) with accompanying recordings
A brief paragraph describing their artistic practice and interests
If you have questions, please contact us.
Accepted participants will be asked to compose a new piece for a given instrumentation and submit a complete draft of this work by 15 June, 2026. These compositions will be workshopped, revised as needed, and performed during one of the festival’s concerts.