Born in 1957 in Linz, Austria, he completed high school and piano studies at the Anton Bruckner Conservatoire in Linz and moved to Graz to study jazz piano, arranging and classical piano, as well as philosophy and German philology. Between 1977 and 1981 he worked with various jazz bands, including the Erich Zann Septet. After graduating from his piano studies, he began studying composition with Polish composer Andrzej Dobrowolski, who introduced him to the techniques of new music. He also studied counterpoint with Hermann Markus Pressl who directed his attention to the work of Josef Matthias Hauer. In Graz, he met Gösta Neuwirth who was to become one of his main influences and who instructed him in composition for many years outside of the university setting. Through Georg Friedrich Haas he got to know microtonal music and in 1988, was commissioned a quartertone work for the Musikprotokoll festival. 

He has worked and lectured for many years in New York, and has chaired the Faculty of Composition at the University of the Arts in Graz in 2003–22. He has also lectured at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, the Ostrava Days festival, at arts academies in Berlin and Vienna as well as Munich, Heidelberg, Hamburg, Basel, Oslo, Madrid, London, and Lucerne. He has held scholarships and residencies notably from International Artists’ House Villa Concordia in Bamberg, Wien Modern, Künstleratelier Thomas Bernhard Archiv in Gmunden, Basel Theatre, and Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden. His many accolades include the Music Prize of the City of Vienna, Erste Bank Composition Prize, Outstanding Artist Award, and Austrian Arts Award for Music. Since 2014, he has been a member of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin.

His works have been performed at the Steirische Herbst Festival, Moscow Alternativa, Moscow Modern, Hanover Biennale, Tage Absoluter Musik Allentsteig I and II, Klangarten I and IV, Resistance Fluctuation Los Angeles, Summer Courses in Darmstadt, Salzburg Festival, Wien Modern, Donaueschingen, Witten and many others. 

With Winfried Ritsch and Thomas Musil at the Electronic Music Institute in Graz, he has built a loop generator and a visual loop generator. He has also authored many installations, notably Schwarze Bänder shown at the Music Viva festival in Munich in 2005. In 2002–12 he has repeatedly cooperated with choreographers such as Xavier Le Roy, Christine Gaigg, Willi Dorner, and Silke Grabinger. His main interest since 1999 has been music theatre, derived from his interpretation of the ideas of difference/ repetition: Theatre of Repetitions (2003), I Hate Mozart, The Old Man from the Mountain, Montezuma – Fallender Adler, Der Golem, and ParZeFool. 

He also performs live as an improviser both solo and in duos. He currently lives in Vienna. 

Selected works (from 2013): Songbook 2 for baritone and piano to words by Dieter Sperl and Christian Loidl (2013), Songbook 3 for soprano and piano to words from the West–Eastern Diwan (2013), Monadologie XXIV: The Stoned Guest, miniopera for three voices, flute, clarinet, cello, accordion and percussion (2013), Monadologie XXV: 10 Paintings for large orchestra after painting by Lisa Abbott–Canfield (2013), Monadologie XXVI: ...for Pauline and Conrad for two violins tuned a quartertone apart after Paganini and Bach (2013), Monadologie XXVII: Brahms–Variationen for clarinet, cello and piano (2013), DW 23 – ...Loops for Dr. X for clarinets, violin and cello with pickups, electric guitar, keyboard and laptop (2013), DW 24 – ...Loops for Al Jourgensen for saxophone and ensemble (2013), DW 23b – ...Loops for Dr. X for clarinets, electric flute, cello with pickup, electric guitar, keyboard, laptop and double bass (2014), Der Golem, music theatre for large orchestra, choir and voices after Gustav Meyrinck (2014), Monadologie XXXII: The Cold Trip I–II for instruments and voices after Schubert’s Winterreise (2014), Monadologie XXX: Hammer for fortepiano after Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata (2014), Monadologie XXIX: London in the Rain for flute, recorder, harp and harpsichord (2014), DW 25 – ...more loops for U. for double bass (2014), Intermezzo no. 1–3 for piano (2015), Monadologie XXXI: For Franz III for zither and string quintet after Schubert’s Quintet in C major (2015), Monadologie XXVIII: Seven Two for string quintet, harp and guitar after Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 (2015), Sisyphos–Fragmente, seven pieces for large choir after Homer (2015), ParZeFool–Der Tumbe Thor, music theatre for voices, choir, ensemble and two jazz musicians, after Wagner’s Parsifal (2016), DW23c for bass clarinet, bass oboe, violin, cello, sampler, synthesizer, piano and electric guitar (2016), DW27 – Loops for Gerry for saxophone and piano (2016), DW 28 – Loops for Davis for bass clarinet, sampler and orchestra (2016), DW 29 – Loops for Paweł Szymański for two accordions (2016), HIOB, music theatre to a libretto by Joseph Roth and Michael Sturminger for voices, choir, orchestra and jazz trio (2017–18), Songbook 2.1 for voice and chamber ensemble (2019), Cheap Opera #1 “Répétitions” for three voices and electronics to texts by right-wing European politicians from 1926–2018 (2019), Monadologie XXXVI: Chopin 12 Etudes for piano (2016–20), Monadologie XXXIX for violin and orchestra (2019–20), Der Hetzer, music theatre after Verdi’s Otello for voices, large orchestra and choir, with rap interventions (2019–20), The Travel Agency is on Fire for voice and five instruments, playback, video and live loops (2020), GAME 2-4-5 “The Mirror Stage” for four voices, electric guitar and ambisonic loops (2020), GAME 6-4-9 “Masques” for nine voices (2020), Monadologie XXXIX.2 Redux for violin and ensemble (2020), GAME 8-4-4 for four guitars and amplifications (2020), Cheap Opera #2 “Playing Trump” to a libretto by Dieter Sperl (2020), Das Hirn for voice, eight instruments and video to words by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (2021), Cheap Opera #3 “May” for six voices, bass clarinet, video and live electronics (2021), Dora, music theatre to a libretto by Frank Witzel (2021–22), A Song for Rachela for 19 instruments, live electronics and voice to words from the Ringelblum Archive (2022), Radical Loops for six violins, percussion, amplification and playback (2022–23).