Reinhard Kager (born 2 April 1954) is an Austrian philosopher, journalist and music promoter who also worked as a music producer.

Career

Born in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Kager studied philosophy, sociology and music at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...

and at the

Kunstuniversität Graz The University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, also known as Kunstuniversität Graz (KUG) is an Austrian university. Its roots can be traced back to the music school of the ''Musikverein für Steiermark, Akademischer Musikverein'' founded in 1 ...

, from 1973. From 1986, he worked as a lecturer at the Philosophical Institute of the University of Graz and taught aesthetic theory,

sociology of art The sociology of art is a subfield of sociology that explores the societal dimensions of art and aesthetics. Scholars who have written on the sociology of art include Pierre Bourdieu, Vera Zolberg, Howard S. Becker, Arnold Hauser (art historian ...

and

media theory Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but it mos ...

. With his book ''Herrschaft und Versöhnung'' (1988) he wrote an introduction to the thinking of

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( ; ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, musicologist, and social theorist. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has com ...

. From 1995 to 1998, he researched, supported by an APART scholarship from the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

, on the subject "Musik zwischen Tradition und Fortschritt" (Music between tradition and progress). Between 1994 and 2002, he also worked in Vienna as a freelance journalist specialising in music and theatre for numerous radio stations of the ARD and as a correspondent for the feature pages of the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

''. From 2002 to 2012, he was head of the jazz editorial office of the

Südwestrundfunk (; ), shortened to SWR (), is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany, specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices in three cities: Stuttg ...

. There, he was responsible for the improvisation programme at the

Donaueschinger Musiktage The Donaueschingen Festival, or more precisely ''Donaueschingen Music Days'' (), is a three-day October event presenting new music in the town of the same name, where the Danube River starts, at the edge of the Black Forest in southern Germany. F ...

and for the . His special focus was on innovative tendencies of

Free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

and on experiments of the new electronic scene.Reinhard Kager neuer leitender Redakteur der SWR2-Jazzredaktion (2002)
/ref> He has produced more than 30 albums. Since July 2012 Kager has been living in Vienna again as a freelance writer. There, he works as a correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the magazine

Opernwelt ''Opernwelt'' (''Opera World'') is a monthly German magazine for opera, operetta and ballet. It includes news about current performances, portraits of composers and performers, articles about opera houses, performance spaces, and contemporary and ...

and the Neue Musikzeitung, for the

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the g ...

and numerous ARD radio stations. In October 2018, Kager took over the artistic direction of the Tyrolean festival

Klangspuren Klangspuren, also Klangspuren Schwaz, subtitled Tiroler Festival für Neue Musik, is an annual festival for contemporary music in Schwaz in Tyrol, founded in 1994. The title literally translates to "traces of sound". It commissioned around 200 orc ...

and programmed the first cycle of events in September 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kager, Reinhard Philosophers of art Austrian music journalists Austrian record producers Austrian radio journalists Austrian radio presenters Südwestrundfunk people Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung people Jazz record producers 1954 births Living people Mass media people from Graz Writers from Graz