Gernot Wolfgang

"Wolfgang's arresting, jazz-drenched new score seemed to capture at once the realities and myths of Los Angeles during fire season .. This piece could also serve as the score for an archetypical 1950s L.A. detective thriller - music that's somehow cool and sultry at the same time. Wherever your imagination takes you, Wolfgang provides the fuel .. "

Richard S. Ginell, The Los Angeles Times (on Gernot Wolfgang's composition for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, "Desert Wind")

"There is no doubt in my mind that Wolfgang is a major composer of our times .. Gernot continues to turn out an excellent array of some of the best music for bassoon of the 20th century ... Gernot Wolfgang's musical style is fundamentally atonal, but highly developmental, utilizing very interesting melodic and rhythmic motives to bind the music together. The influences of jazz and rock are clearly audible in his music, and the entire structure has a wonderful sense of finesse and completion ..."

" ... a truly modern work which would satisfy even the most hard core audiences at the Darmstadt Festival .. performers and audiences alike will enjoy the gripping emotionality of the piece."

Ensemble Magazine/Germany (on Gernot's trio for violin, clarinet and piano, "Reflections")

"Gernot Wolfgang's inspiring "Common Ground", a melange of Jazz, Avantgarde and Classical elements with instant appeal ... it's just like hearing 'Le Sacre du Printemps' for the first time once again."

GERNOT WOLFGANG composer
Photograph by Diane Alancraig
"Wolfgang's arresting, jazz-drenched new score seemed to capture at once the realities and myths of Los Angeles during fire season .. This piece could also serve as the score for an archetypical 1950s L.A. detective thriller - music that's somehow cool and sultry at the same time. Wherever your imagination takes you, Wolfgang provides the fuel .. " Richard S. Ginell, The Los Angeles Times (on Gernot Wolfgang's composition for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, "Desert Wind") "There is no doubt in my mind that Wolfgang is a major composer of our times .. Gernot continues to turn out an excellent array of some of the best music for bassoon of the 20th century ... Gernot Wolfgang's musical style is fundamentally atonal, but highly developmental, utilizing very interesting melodic and rhythmic motives to bind the music together. The influences of jazz and rock are clearly audible in his music, and the entire structure has a wonderful sense of finesse and completion ..." Ronald Klimko, The Double Reed (on Gernot's concert music with bassoon) " ... a truly modern work which would satisfy even the most hard core audiences at the Darmstadt Festival .. performers and audiences alike will enjoy the gripping emotionality of the piece." Ensemble Magazine/Germany (on Gernot's trio for violin, clarinet and piano, "Reflections") "Gernot Wolfgang's inspiring "Common Ground", a melange of Jazz, Avantgarde and Classical elements with instant appeal ... it's just like hearing 'Le Sacre du Printemps' for the first time once again." Tobias Fischer, Tokafi.com (on Gernot's chamber music CD, "Common Ground") "Unconventional beauty." Dave Brubeck, Jazz Great (on Gernot's chamber music CD, "Common Ground")
Born in Bad Gastein, Austria in 1957, Gernot Wolfgang currently resides in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the program "Scoring for Motion Pictures and TV" at USC, and holds degrees from Berklee College of Music in Boston and the University of Music in Graz, Austria.
Gernot has received commissions from individuals and organizations such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic principals Michele Zukovsky (clarinet) and David Breidenthal (bassoon), the Verdehr Trio & Michigan State University, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra flutist Susan Greenberg, the Jazz Festival of the European Broadcasting Union, Oesterreichische Kammersymphoniker (Austria), Tiroler Kammerorchester InnStrumenti (Austria) , Jazz Bigband Graz (Austria), Music from Salem (NY) and the Los Angeles based chamber music series Pacific Serenades and Chamber Music Palisades.
His concert works, which are published by Doblinger and Fatrock Ink Music Publishers, have been presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra (Japan), the Symponieorchester Vorarlberg (Austria) and the Oesterreichische Kammersymphoniker. They have been performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and at the Konzerthaus in Vienna. Gernot's chamber music CD "Common Ground" was released by Albany Records in August 2006 (Albany Records/TROY854). His music can also be heard on the Polygram, Universal, Koch, Crystal Records, Capstone and Extraplatte labels.
As a guitarist with the Austrian jazz ensemble "The QuARTet" he has recorded two critically acclaimed CDs for Extraplatte and toured extensively throughout Europe.
From 1990-93 Gernot was a lecturer for Jazz Composition and Harmony at the University of Music in Graz. He has guest lectured at the University of Music in Vienna and at the music festival Instrumenta Verano in Oaxaca, Mexico. Gernot has received awards, grants and scholarships from the American Composers Forum, American Music Center, the Austrian Ministry for Education and the Arts, the Austrian Ministry for Science and Research, Austro Mechana, Berklee College of Music, Billboard Magazine, BMI, the Fulbright Commission and the State of Tyrol, Austria.
Gernot Wolfgang is active in the film and TV music industry as a composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is currently composer in residence with the Beverly Hills International Music Festival, where he curates the concert series "Voices of Hollywood" featuring the chamber music of film/TV composers. For a bio in German click here. Gernot Wolfgang on myspace.