Born in 1954 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Studied conducting under Otmar Suitner and composition under Roman Haubenstock-Ramati at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. In 1985 co-founder of the Klangforum Wien, which he headed until 1992. Since 1992 professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz. A member of Berlin’s Akademie der Künste since 2005.