Dr. Manuela Kerer, PhD

Awards, Residencies

Manuela received several awards, including the Walther-von-der-Vogelweide promotion prize (2009), the SKE Publicity Prize (2011) and the Austrian State Grant for composition (2008, 2011, 2016). In 2009 she was elected one of 100 young creative talents of Europe from the European Committee. In 2012/2013 the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs selected her for the program “New Austrian Sound of Music”. In 2015 she was awarded the international scholarship “Composer in Residence - Female composers to Frankfurt”. In 2016 she was Composer in Residence at the Festival St.Gallen/Styria, in 2019 at Schlossmediale Werdenberg, Festival "Leicht über Linz" and ZZM Carinthia. Her string quartet "Gletscherquartett" has been selected for the ISCM World Music Days 2020 New Zealand. In 2023 ORF and Jeunesse will present a portrait concert with Manuela's work at Radiokulturhaus Vienna.

Festivals and institutions, which featured Manuela's music and collaborated with her

Manuela collaborated with and her music has been featured at many internationally reknowned festivals, such as Klangspuren Schwaz, Wien Modern, Münchener Biennale, Ultraschall Berlin, Seoul Art Center, Aspekte Salzburg, Transart Bozen, Festspiele Erl, Styriarte, Asiagofestival, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, ACF New York, Konzerthaus Vienna, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Hellerau Dresden, whitebox Munich, Carinthischer Sommer, International Festival for Contemporary Music Moscow.

Curator, Boards of Trustees, Engagements as a Jury Member

Manuela is involved and engages herself in numerous steering and management committees. From 2012 to 2016 she was in the board of trustees of the symphony-orchestra "Haydn-Orchester Bozen Trient". Since 2017 she is curator and in the artistic board of Ensemble Reconsil Vienna and since 2022 she is in the board of trustees of Bundeswettbewerb Jugend komponiert, Jeunesses Musicales Germany.

Together with Katrin Beck, Manuela Kerer will be the artistic director of "Münchener Biennale" 2026, festival for contemporary music theatre.

As a jury member, Manuela took part at the Theodor Körner Prize, the Ö1 Talentebörse, the Austrian State Scholarship for Composition, among others. Since 2022, she is in the jury of the Nikolaus Fheodoroff-Composition-Prize.

Music Education ("Musikvermittlung")

Manuela Kerer is a big advocat of music education, the discipline that bridges the gap between music performance and the listener. She developed "sound walks" with children (Children's Museum Munich, Klangspuren Schwaz), holds composition workshops with children and young people (apprentices-project Klangspuren Schwaz, Volkshochschule Munich, various projects at schools in Italy, Austria and Germany). She cooperated with the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg and the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media in Tübingen. Furthermore, Manuela loves to compose for children and amateurs. She is currently working on a project for LOUDsoft Berlin (Daniella Strasfogel), that brings a new piece of Manuela on playgrounds, involving randomly present kids.

From 2010 to 2020 Manuela wrote a weekly column called "Kerers Saite" for the newspaper "Dolomiten", in which she wrote about everything that has possible connections to music. 2020 she published the book "Kerers Saiten: Music And The World - Colums By A Composer" (in German). From 2011 to 2018 she conducted the radio show "Querschnitte" at RAI-Südtirol, where she presented contemporary music.

Teaching and Supporting

Manuela Kerer loves to teach and boosting students in their curiosity. She gave guest lectures at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität Linz, Gustav Mahler Privatuniversität für Musik Klagenfurt, School of Music, University of Minnesota and she was a lecturer at the Bundeswettbewerb "Jugend komponiert" of the Jeunesses Musicales Germany, Weikersheim. Since 2022/23 Manuela Kerer teaches music pedagogy at the conservatory "Claudio Monteverdi" Bozen.

 

After having lived in Innsbruck, New York and Munich Manuela is back in her hometown, Brixen, South Tyrol, where she is living with her partner and two children. She loves coffee, especially when enjoyed from high-quality porcelain. She prefers wine to beer, would like to have a dog and really enjoys traveling by train. In her dreams, she can do triple somersaults and climb skyscrapers. Manuela is a political person and doesn't like extremists. She prefers reading analog to digital, likes to own a lot of scores and books and gets lost in big cities. She (rarely) forces herself to go on ski tours, and actually prefers to ski downhill.