FRANZ KOGLMANN

Born on May 22, 1947, in Mödling. Studied jazz and trumpet at the Prayner Conservatory and the Vienna Conservatory. After studying in New York and Philadelphia in 1972 and 1973 and collaborating with Viennese avant-garde jazz musicians such as Walter M. Malli, Harun Barrabas, and Toni Michlmayr, he founded the label Pipe Records in 1973, on which he released several records, including with Steve Lacy and Bill Dixon. From 1978 to 1981, he was musical advisor to the Galerie nächst St. Stephan, before founding the Vienna Music Gallery in 1982 together with his partner Ingrid Karl, which organized numerous international festivals and workshops.

In 1983, the gallery hosted the three-day “Tatitu Tatatu” festival, during which Koglmann presented his group “Pipetet,” which includes internationally renowned musicians such as Tony Coe, Tom Varner, and Peter Herbert, to the public for the first time. In 1984, Koglmann produced the LP “Schlaf Schlemmer, Schlaf Magritte” for his “Pipe Label,” which defines characteristics significant to his work: a free, non-academic synthesis of jazz and European modernism, the use of first-rate instrumental individualists, an unconventional use of various musical stylistic devices, and references to Koglmann's beloved works of literature, visual art, and film. The following years were also marked by tours and the founding of further ensembles (the trio “KoKoKo” in 1985, the “Pipe Trio” in 1986, and the “Monoblue Quartet” in 1990). 
From 1999 to 2004, he was artistic director of the Frankfurt CD label between the lines.

Koglmann, the “Master of Melancholy” (Downbeat jazz magazine, 1992), has demonstrated his musical talent in numerous international bands. He has performed with the Ulrich Gumpert Workshop Band, in a trio with Walter M. Malli and Eugene Chadbourne, in the Mitteleuropa Orchestra, in a trio with Lol Coxhill and Andrea Centazzo, in the ensemble “Tatitu Tatatu”, and in Georg Gräwe's Grubenklangorchester, among others.

“My work combines the Viennese melancholy familiar from Schubert and Alban Berg with the international melancholy upheld by the cool jazz of Chet Baker, for example.” (Franz Koglmann)

Awards (Selection)
2019 Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art
2014 Golden Award of Merit for Services to the Province of Vienna (Goldenes Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien)
2008 Ernst-Krenek-Prize
2003 Hans-Koller-Prize
2001 Award of the City of Vienna (Preis der Stadt Wien)

Works (Selection)
2019 Fruits of Solitude, chamber jazz for septet
2019 West of the Moon, Georg Gräwe – Franz Koglmann Quintett
2017 Dear Sophie, for trio, narrator, and symphony orchestra, based on a text by von David Schalko, commissioned by ORF
2015 G(OOD)LUCK, trio
2014 Join! Opera in three acts
2011 Identities – Ballet based on the novel “L'identité” by Milan Kundera 
2008 Lo-lee-ta - Music on Nabokov for quartet, chamber music
2007 Nighttime walks - A twilight of thoughts based on motifs from Joseph Haydn for chamber orchestra
2003 Fear Death by Water, Opera, chamber orchestra/ensemble
1996 O Moon My Pin-Up – Cantata after "Pisan Cantos" by Ezra Pound for octet, solo voice, vocal octet, chamber music
1993 Mélange de la promenade - based on motifs from Modest Mussorgsky for septet and jazz quartet, chamber orchestra/ensemble
1992 Cantos I-IV - Suite in four movements. Original title "Küß die Hand, Jazz" for chamber orchestra/ensemble
1987 “Schilflied I” – III based on poems by Nikolaus Lenau for trio, chamber music
1990 The Use of Memory
1985 “Ich, Franz Koglmann” - after Jorge Luis Borges for chamber music
1984 Good night - after Seamus Heaney for trio, chamber music
1984 Mixture - for Peter Kubelka, for quartet, chamber music
1981 „Schlaf Schlemmer, Schlaf Magritte“ for chamber orchestra/ensemble
1976 Opium for quintet, chamber music