Georg Friedrich Haas, born in 1953 in Graz, proves that a cleverly selected system does not necessarily create a murky brew out of microtones, but can conjure up bright colours.

All works, even one's own ones, are focused on the sensuous aspects of sound. This is what music should be about anyway, but these aspects were put aside in post-war contemporary music. Haas antagonises this trend.

Nevertheless, the performance was a success. This was due to the music and its grand adaptation by the Klangforum Wien and the vocal ensemble NOVA, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling. Has was able to focus the music in a fascinating way, tighten it to maelstrom-like, collective sequences. In his works, Haas worked a lot with the different aspects of micro-tonality and he possesses a tremendously broad spectrum of suggestive sound possibilities.

A highlight at this year's Donaueschingen Musiktage was the world premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas' "Hyperion", a concerto for light and orchestra in midst a spectacular installation for light and space by the Stuttgart artist Rosalie.

His music creates enigmatic sound worlds of glistening sensuality. And while his operas circle around Hölderlin, Kafka and Poe and explore existential questions, they still keep something like a utopian potential. The fact that Georg Friedrich Haas' compositions appeal immediately, is not just a result of his subtle sensorium employed to bring experiences from early music to fruition for modern music. The colourfulness of his scores is due to harmonic structures deriving from natural overtone series "finishing the composition" in the acoustic resonance conditions - with glittering, demanding result.

Exact tonalities, long melodic developments find their place in the kaleidoscope of strangeness, in which the trumpet of the Last Judgement is more than a shallow quote. The premiere at the Schwetzingen Festival (...) was oppressively impressive. (...) Disturbing emphatic approval.

The orchestral genius of the composer Haas masters the art of captivating the audience for an evening, and overwhelming them at the end. [...] Georg Friedrich Haas [...] is a master of instrumental sound in voluptous depth and width. Haas has devoted himself to the innermost parts of sounds. "Bluthaus" fascinates in the richest possible spectrums of overtones with sparkling colors and gestures, which he welded into roaring sound engines.