100 Years of Oskar Sala

The musician, composer and natural scientist Oskar Sala (1910–2002) is one of the most influential pioneers of 20th-century electro-acoustic music. At the end of the 1920s, he and Friedrich Trautwein (1888–1956) developed the Trautonium – one of the first electro-acoustic instruments capable of producing noises and sounds of all kinds. His next-generation instrument, the "Mixturtrautonium", enabled Sala to create numerous sounds for theatre and documentary, industrial and feature films, including famous works like Hitchcock’s "The Birds".
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the legatee of Sala’s complete collection of audio tapes, organized a theme-based weekend of events. The festival weekend included two new music theatre productions, performances, an international symposium, tours and lectures. For the first time, audiences had the opportunity to listen to digital copies of his audio tapes, made possible through funding from the KUR – Programme for the Conservation of Moveable Cultural Assets. The goal was to demonstrate Oskar Sala’s artistic foresight and remarkable influence on today’s musical life and present his work in new artistic contexts.

Artistic directors: Silke Berdux, Wilhelm Füßl, Andreas Ammer and Peter Pichler

Venue and schedule:
Deutsches Museum, Munich, 16 – 19 July 2010