Beat Furrer was born in 1954 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Furrer received his first musical training on piano at the Schaffhausen Conservatory. Subsequently to his move to Vienna in 1975, he studied conduction with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock Ramati at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. In 1985 Furrer founded the Société de l’Art Acoustique, today’s Klangforum Wien, which he directed until 1992 and with which he is still associated as conductor.

With his first string quartet Furrer won the prize at the composition competition "Junge Generation" in Europa commissioned by the city of Cologne, the Venice Biennale and the Festival d’Automne à Paris. He composed his first opera "Die Blinden", commissioned by the Wiener Staatsoper and premiered in 1989 at the festival Wien Modern. "Narcissus" was premiered in 1994 as part of the Festival Steirischer Herbst at the Graz Opera. Further music theater premieres followed: in 2001 "BEGEHREN" in Graz, in 2003 the opera "invocation" in Zurich and 2005 the sound theater piece "FAMA" at the Donaueschingen. In 1999 Claudio Abbado conducted the premiere of "Face de la Chaleur for flute and orchestra in the Wiener Musikverein. In 1996 Furrer composed "nuun" for the Salzburger Festspiele, a piece for two pianos and orchestra.

Since 1991 Furrer has been a full professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz. He has also been guest professor in composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Frankfurt am Main since 2006.

Since 2005 he became a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.