Series: Literature Workshop for Children in St. Lorenzen am Wechsel / Donnersbach / St. Gallen

1990–94

True to its name, steirischer herbst also took place outside of Graz. Starting in 1969, it was accompanied by the Kunstpreis der Stadt Köflach für zeitgenössische Kunst (Art Prize of the City of Köflach for Contemporary Painting), whose prize-winning works were exhibited during the festival each year. Around 1980, two other initiatives originated that expanded the music program of steirischer herbst into the region around Graz.

The Musikanimation Mürztal, later called the Mürztaler Werkstatt and the Mürz Werkstatt, and the Deutschlandsberg Youth Music Festival, were linked through the renowned German composer Hans Werner Henze, who despite his membership in the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) was considered an advocate of a left-wing agenda throughout his life. Both festivals took place in economically weak areas marked by the departure of industry.

While the Deutschlandsberg Festival was dedicated to a program for children and young people, in Mürztal international composers were brought together with orchestras. The Musikanimation began in 1978 as an initiative of the Austrian section of the International Society for Contemporary Music under the direction of the composer Dieter Kaufmann and the k & k experimentalstudio, which Kaufmann ran in cooperation with his wife, Gunda König.

In 1983, Henze, who had already gained experience with lay musicians in Italy, took over as director for a short time. After disputes on site, he followed Peter Vujica’s advice that he should switch to the Deutschlandsberg Festival, where he found a suitable project partner in Barbara Faulend-Klauser, the director of the music school there. The Mürztaler Musikwerkstatt continued to be run by the Walter Buchebner Gesellschaft until 2005, and Faulend-Klauser kept the youth music festival going until 2003. Olga Neuwirth is regarded as its most famous alumna.

In line with the search for “new pastures for mobile spirits,” which Horst Gerhard Haberl presented as the guiding principle for his time as artistic director, he expanded the festival to include other initiatives beyond the city limits starting in 1990. The program item “Out of Graz” thus included the Hör-Fest-Stainach (contemporary jazz), the literature workshop for children in St. Lorenzen am Wechsel / Donnersbach / St. Gallen, and the Schreams Cultural Initiative and the Kult-Ur-Weg Pischelsdorf, later renamed K.U.L.M. In contrast to the earlier events, here, steirischer herbst did not act as a mediator of an alleged high culture, but instead provided a stage for independent local initiatives.

All the events mentioned had disappeared from the festival program by 2006.