Michael Kahr
Musicologist · Artistic Researcher · Pianist · Composer
A leading figure in artistic research in jazz, Michael Kahr bridges performance, scholarship, and institutional leadership across Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurt, and beyond.
Prof. Dr. Michael Kahr is a pianist, composer/arranger, musicologist, and artistic researcher. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Sydney in 2010, his Master of Music (MMus) at the University of Sydney in 2005, and his Mag. Art. in Jazz Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in 2001.
Currently, he serves as Head of the Center for Artistic Research and Dean of the Music Faculty at JAM MUSIC LAB Private University for Jazz and Popular Music in Vienna, where he also leads the university's new artistic doctoral program. Concurrently, he works as a Senior Artist at the Institute for Jazz at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, and since 2022, has served as Senior Scientist and Institute Director at the Institute for Jazz at the Gustav Mahler Private University of Music, Klagenfurt.
As a leading figure in his field, Kahr has served as Head of Research at the International Center for Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music at JAM MUSIC LAB since 2022. He is currently leading the four-year research project Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music: An Artistic Scientific Cartography of Musical Practices in Vienna (2024 to 2028), and serves as an advisory board member of the FWF PEEK project What are they building in there? (2026 to 2029). His previous research tenure includes membership in the Network for Artistic Music Research (DFG, 2022 to 2025), serving as a Project Associate for UniNEtZ II (2022 to 2024) and UniNEtZ I (2019 to 2021), and postdoctoral work on the FWF project Jazz & the City (2011 to 2013). His PhD research was carried out on a funded position at the University of Sydney (2005 to 2010).
His publications include the award-winning monograph Jazz & the City: Jazz in Graz von 1965 bis 2015, along with numerous journal articles, book chapters, CDs, and musical scores. He edited the volume Artistic Research in Jazz: Positions, Theories, Methods (Routledge, 2021) and co-edited the Routledge Companion to Jazz & Gender (2022). Together with Monika Herzig and Mike Fletcher, he co-edits the ARJAZZ Journal for Artistic Research in Jazz, launched in 2025.
Deeply engaged with the global academic community, Kahr is a board member of the International Society for Jazz Research (ISJ/IGJ), founder of the International Network for Artistic Research in Jazz (INARJ), and a working group member of the AEC Pop Jazz Platform. He serves as an Editorial Board Member of the Journal for Jazz Education in Research and Practice, and is a reviewer for the National Research Foundation of South Africa, the Journal for Artistic Research, Samples, Jazzforschung/Jazz Research, and Transnational Jazz Studies.
Kahr’s work has been recognized globally. He received the Erzherzog Johann Research Award from the County of Styria in 2018, an Austrian Science Fund FWF PEEK Grant (2011 to 2013), the Morroe Berger–Benny Carter Jazz Research Award from Rutgers University Newark (2011), and a Fulbright Scholar Award in Los Angeles (2010). He has also received various grants for CD productions, scientific conferences, and research projects.
Beyond his academic leadership, Kahr maintains an active international career as a pianist and composer, performing regularly across Austria and abroad.
Selected Publications
Books
Routledge Companion to Jazz and Gender, co-edited with James Reddan and Monika Herzig, Routledge (2022)
Artistic Practice as Research in Jazz: Positions, Theories, Methods, Routledge (2021)
Aspects of Context and Harmony in the Music of Clare Fischer, PhD thesis, University of Sydney (2009)
Selected Journal Articles and Essays
"The Jazz Artist's Knowing Voice in Historical Contexts: From Historically Informed Practice to Artistic Research", Jazzforschung/Jazz Research 48 (2022)
"Artistic Practice and/as Analytical Method in Historical Jazz Research", Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale 2019/1 (2020)
"Jazz in Graz von 1965 bis 2015", Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Graz 48 (2018)
"Chromatic Harmony in the Music of Herbie Hancock and Clare Fischer", Jazzforschung/Jazz Research 46 (2018)
"The Jazz Institutes in Graz: Pioneer in Academic Jazz and their Impact on Local Identity", European Journal of Musicology 16/1 (2017)
"Künstlerische Forschung im Bereich Jazz und Popularmusik an der Kunstuniversität Graz", Zeitschrift für Hochschulentwicklung 10/1 (2015)
"Upper Styrian Big Band Folk: Exploring Local Authenticity and Identity in Jazz", Journal for Artistic Research 3 (2013)
Selected Book Chapters
"Artistic Research in Jazz: An Introduction", in Artistic Practice as Research in Jazz: Positions, Theories, Methods, ed. Michael Kahr, Routledge (2021)
"Artistic Research in Jazz and Popular Music: Historical Contexts", in Artistic Practice as Research in Jazz and Popular Music: Positions, Theories, Methods, ed. Michael Kahr, Routledge (2021)
"Artistic Research in Jazz: A Case Study and Potential Developments", in Music and Sonic Arts: Theories and Practice, eds. Mine Doğantan Dack and John Dack, Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2018)
"Chromaticism and Identity in the Music of Clare Fischer", in Darmstädter Beiträge zur Jazzforschung 14, ed. Wolfram Knauer, Wolke Verlag (2016)
Selected Discography
(Composition, Arrangement, Piano)
Jazz & the City (and me...), Alessa Records ALR 1047 (2016)
Dorothea Jaburek: Sweet Secrets, Alessa Records 1062 (2017)
Michael Kahr Quartett: Stories, Mr.D. Music (2002)
High Styria Big Band: Upper Styrian Big Band Folk, Manus (2011)
More Information
For further details regarding Michael Kahr's musical projects and scholarly writing, please visit his official website at michaelkahr.com, or explore his academic publications via his Academia.edu profile and ORCID research record. You can also learn more about his leadership role and the new artistic doctoral program he supervises at JML University.