After a year at the University of Sydney enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts course, Rainer Linz transferred to Adelaide University, graduating from there in 1976 with a Bachelor of Music degree. He continued his musical education with postgraduate studies in Germany at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. Returning to Australia in 1979, he worked for an M.A. (Prelim.) at La Trobe University in Melbourne. He has studied composition with Ross Edwards, Richard Meale, Bozidar Kos, Mauricio Kagel and Keith Humble.
He was employed as a tutor at La Trobe University and Preston College of TAFE between 1980 and 1984, and has been a freelance composer, educator and publisher. He has been a member of the Board of the Small Publishers collective. He was appointed composer-in-residence at the Perth Institute for Contemporary Arts in 1989 and has also collaborated with artists such as Stelarc, Peter Lyssiotis and Anna Couani.
Linz has been the recipient of many awards and commissions, including the Ruby Davy Prize for Composition (Adelaide University, 1976), an Australia Council Composer Commission for the Pipeline Ensemble, and an Australia Council development grant. Publications grants from the Australia Council and the Victorian Arts Ministry enabled him to found the journal NMA (New Music Articles) in 1982 with Richard Vella. He has also been Director of the Backyard Press Co-op and a publisher with Red House Editions.
