Ingomar Grünauer was born in Melk (Austria) on 11 August 1938. His musical training led him to the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts from 1950-1961 where he studied conducting with Hans Swarowsky, piano with Richard Hauser and composition with Karl Schiske. He graduated in composition in 1959 and in conducting in 1961. In the years 1957, 1959 and 1961 he attended the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music.

From 1961-1968 Ingomar Grünauer worked as a musical director, répétiteur and composer of incidental music at the Heidelberg theatre. In 1968 he left the theatre to work as a teacher at primary and secondary schools in the Upper Palatinate until 1982 and in Wiesbaden from 1973-1982; during this time he composed further incidental musics for various theatres and wrote his first compositions for music theatre. In the summer of 1974 the University of Salvador/Bahia (Brazil) invited him to teach ’Scenic Music’.

In 1982 he was appointed Professor of Aesthetics and Communication at the Faculty of Social Work of the Frankfurt Fachhochschule; until his retirement in 2001 his research and teaching focussed on theatrical work and cultural animation.

His works include commissions from: Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen - Städtische Bühnen Heidelberg - Staatstheater Stuttgart - Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden - Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken - Stadttheater Luzern - Theater Basel - Kultusministerium des Landes Baden-Württemberg - Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur Österreich - ORF, among others.

Prizes and honours: 1960 First prize of the International Composition Competition of the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts
1966 Kulturwochenpreis der Stadt Innsbruck - 1969 Förderungspreis des Landes Niederösterreich - 1982 Kulturpreis der Stadt Wiesbaden

Ingomar Grünauer lives in Schmitten near Wiesbaden.