Wolfgang Rihm began composing at a very early age. He first studied composition with Eugen Werner Velte, Wolfgang Fortner, and Humphrey Searle at the Music Academy in his hometown of Karlsruhe.

In 1970, he attended the Darmstadt Summer Courses, and throughout that decade, undertook study with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Cologne and Klaus Huber and Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht in Freiburg. Rihm himself taught composition at the Karlsruhe Hochschule für Musik from 1973 to 1978, in Darmstadt starting in 1978, and at the Munich Hochschule für Musik starting in 1981. In 1985, he succeeded Eugen Werner Velte as composition professor at the Karlsruhe Hochschule. Subsequently, he became a member of the Artistic Advisory Committee of the Heinrich Strobel Institute at Radio SWR Baden-Baden. From 1984 to 1989, he was co-editor of the music journal Melos and a music advisor for the Berlin Opera.

A prolific composer, Rihm’s catalogue comprises more than 400 works to date. He has received accolades including the Stuttgart Prize (1974), City of Mannheim Prize (1975), Berlin Prize (1978), Bach Prize from the City of Hamburg (2000), Ernst von Siemens Prize (2003), the Baden-Württemberg Medal of Merit (2008), Golden Lion from the Venice Biennale (2010), the German Federal Order of Merit (2011), Robert Schumann Prize (2014), the European Sacred Music Prize from the Schwäbisch Gmünd Festival (Germany, 2017), and the Medal of Honour of the City of Karlsruhe (2024).

Heavily influenced in his early years by the music of composers such as Feldman, Webern, and Stockhausen, and later by Wilhelm Killmayer, Lachenmann, and Nono, to whom he has dedicated several works, Rihm came to develop a creative identity that is heavily influenced by visual arts and literature. His chamber opera, Jakob Lenz, based on the novella by Georg Büchner, was premiered in 1978. In 1983, Die Hamletmaschine, a collaboration with Heiner Müller, was awarded the Liebermann Prize. Rihm himself penned the libretti for his operas Oedipus (1987), based on the writings of Sophocles, Hölderlin, Nietzsche, and Müller; Die Eroberung von Mexico (1991), based on writings by Artaud; and Dionysos - Eine Opernphantasie (2009-2010), based on Nietzsche. Other significant theatrical works include the monodrama Proserpina (2008) and the operas Das Gehege (2006) and Drei Frauen (2009).

Many of his works are grouped into large-scale cycles which explore particular themes, such as the Chiffre cycle (1982-1988); Vers une symphonie-fleuve (1992-2001), comprising five works for orchestra; Über die Linie, eight works comprising solos and concertos (1999-2015); and Séraphin (1992-2011), a series of pieces ranging from chamber music, e.g., Study for Séraphin, to concertos for ensemble and orchestra, e.g., “Séraphin” Concerto (2006-2008) and “Séraphin” Symphony (1993-2011), as well as theatrical works, e.g., Séraphin - Theatre Experience (1993-1996) and Séraphin III (2006-2007). In 2012, he completed the Nähe fern 1-4 cycle for orchestra.