The concerts take place over a weekend at the end of April or in early May, and concentrate on world premieres of small-scale works, more than 600 as of 2010.
[6] Composers who have contributed pieces to this series have included Brian Ferneyhough, Georg Friedrich Haas, Toshio Hosokawa, György Kurtág, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Gérard Pesson, Robert H.P.
Platz, Rolf Riehm, Wolfgang Rihm, Salvatore Sciarrino, Matthias Pintscher, Hans Zender, and Walter Zimmermann.
[2] Other composers included Beat Furrer who founded the ensemble Klangforum Wien 25 years before, Enno Poppe (1969), Salvatore Sciarrino, Bernhard Lang and Friedrich Cerha.
This festival has pioneered major developments in the history of musical genres, including the renaissance of the string quartet, that would not have been conceivable without its advocacy.