Jakob Gruchmann

About Jakob Gruchmann

Jakob Gruchmann (born in Salzburg in 1991) began to play (accordion, later horn) and compose music (first premiere in 2002) as a child. Challenged by an extra exercise in music class, he founded a class orchestra and attracted attention with his compositional experiments – his first commissioned works followed. In 2007, he won the first prize at the ‘Jugend komponiert’ competition at the Wiener Konzerthaus. After completing his A-levels at the Musisches Gymnasium in Salzburg, he studied at the Mozarteum and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz – his most influential teachers were Ernst Ludwig Leitner, Alexander Müllenbach, Gerd Kühr, and Johannes Maria Staud. He was awarded residence scholarships (including Arco Marseille), the annual music scholarship of the state of Salzburg, and the Bernhard Paumgartner Medal from the International Mozarteum Foundation. His music – ranging from solo works to choral and orchestral pieces – is performed and awarded prizes throughout the world (including Musica Sacra a Roma, the St. Christopher Composition Competition in Vilnius, and the Toru Takemitsu Award in Tokyo). He is professor of composition and music theory at the Gustav Mahler Private University of Music in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee.