Olga Neuwirth (born 4 August 1968 in Graz) is an Austrian contemporary classical composer, visual artist and author. She gained fame mainly through her operas and music theater works, which often deal with topical and decidedly political themes of identity, violence and intolerance. Life and Work Neuwirth was born in Graz, the daughter of Griseldis Neuwirth and pianist Harald Neuwirth. She is the niece of Gösta Neuwirth and the sister of sculptor Flora Neuwirth. As a child at the age of seven, Neuwirth began lessons on the trumpet but was forced to abandon her original plans to study trumpet after an accident that left her with a jaw injury. As a high school student, Neuwirth took part in composition workshops with Hans Werner Henze and Gerd Kühr. At the age of 16, she met writer Elfriede Jelinek, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the two artists have since enjoyed an artistically "fruitful collaboration". The then-17-year-old composer named her first commissioned composition Die gelbe Kuh tanzt Ragtime. The work was composed for the opening of the festival in 1985. Neuwirth first studied composition with Elinor Armer at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, beginning in 1986. She also studied painting and film at San Francisco’s Art College. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under Erich Urbanner, while studying at the Institute for Composition and Electroacoustics. Her master's thesis was written on the music in Alain Resnais's film L'Amour à mort, entitled "On the use of film music in L'amour à mort by Alain Resnais." In 1985/86, she studied music and art at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Elinor Armer. She studied painting and film at the San Francisco Art College. In 1993/94 she studied with Tristan Murail and worked at IRCAM, producing such works as "...?risonanze!..." for viola d'amore. She received significant inspiration in this period from her encounters with Adriana Hölszky (Nicht beirren lassen! Weitermachen!) and the Italian composer Luigi Nono. Neuwirth had the chance to meet with Luigi Nono, who had similarly radical politics, and has claimed this had a strong influence on her life. She has numerous chamber music works released on the Kairos label, and has collaborated with Elfriede Jelinek on the opera "Bählamms Fest." Neuwirth's opera of David Lynch's film Lost Highway incorporates both live and pre-recorded audio and visual feeds, alongside other electronics.