 Following service in World War I, Kolisch attended both the University and the Musikakademie, where he studied violin with Ottokar Ševčik, composition with Franz Schreker and conducting with Franz Schalk, intending at first to make a career as a conductor.In 1919 he began studying composition with Arnold Schoenberg, who later became his brother-in-law (1924).He put Kolisch to work in the "Society for Private Musical Performances in Vienna" ().