KunstMusik #17 Biographies
CHRISTIAN WOLFF
was born in 1934 in Nice, France, but has lived mostly in the U.S. since 1941. Though mostly self-taught as a composer, association with John Cage, Morton Feldman and others have been important for him. Wolff’s work has concerned itself principally with the introduction of various new modes notation and freedom of the musical event, both for the composer and performer as well as the listener. Wolff himself has also been active as a performer and as an improviser. He is a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and has received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts. Academically trained at Harvard as a classicist, Wolff has taught classics at Harvard and from 1971 to 1999 was professor of Classics and Music at Dartmouth College.
ANDREW McINTOSH
Composer, violinist and violist Andrew McIntosh has a unique and diverse approach to music-making, prioritizing his work as a composer and focusing his performances primarily around the repertoire of compelling and experimental music from the last 800 years. He is known for being a specialist in microtonal tuning systems and also for being a member of the Formalist Quartet. He holds degrees in violin, composition, and early music performance from the University of Nevada, Reno, the California Institute of the Arts, and the University of Southern California. As a composer, McIntosh strives to write vibrant and engaging pieces while bringing a spirit of experimentalism to the music, often finding models for his work in the natural world. His music is regularly performed around the US and Europe. A native of rural Northern Nevada, McIntosh is currently based in the Los Angeles.
CATHERINE LAMB
(b. 1982, USA), is a composer exploring the interaction of elemental tonal material and the variations in presence between shades and beings in a room. In 2003 she turned away from the conservatory in an attempt to understand the structures and intonations within Hindustani Classical Music, later finding Mani Kaul in 2006 who was directly connected to Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and whose philosophical approach to sound became important to her. She studied (experimental) composition at the California Institute of the Arts (2004-2006) under James Tenney and Michael Pisaro. It was there also that she began her work into the area of Just Intonation, which became a clear way to investigate the interaction of tones and ever-fluctuating shades, where these interactions in and of them-selves became structural elements in her work. She received her MFA from the Milton Avery School of Fine Arts at Bard College in 2012 and is currently residing in Berlin, Germany.
ALEXANDER MOOSBRUGGER
born in Austria in 1972. Studies at the Vorarlberger Landeskonservatorium (organ and harpsichord), at the Universität Wien (philosophy) and at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart. Moosbrugger’s work encompasses a fine differentiation of the entire soft dynamic range. He primarily is writing in chamber ensemble settings, rarely doubled, preferring among other genres the string quartet. Moosbrugger establishes musical relations through translations extra-musical points of reference, analysis of symbolic functions. Playing techniques manifest the "speaking" of musical images and are devised anew in each piece, or series of works. His compositions are internationally played, in festivals of contemporary music and in ensemble concert series. Moosbrugger’s concern with "Listening/ Hearing" as compositional arena motivated studies in philosophy at the Universität Wien. Since then, he researches and works with aspects of hearing as sounding reflections about the history of philosophy. Since 2007 Moosbrugger is the artistic director of Bludenzer Tage Neuer Musik. He lives and works in Berlin.
STEPHA SCHWEIGER
She started making music at a very early age, which was when she also discovered her passion for performance and audio recordings. While learning her main instrument – the piano – and when playing other instruments, she became captivated by the impact of different states of tuning and detuning. While a student of composition at the University of the Arts in Berlin, she began to learn more about microtonality and spectral music. She studied experimental electronic music, amongst others during her year-long course at the IRCAM in Paris and at the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Lectures and workshops at Institut für Neue Musik, Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler (Berlin), University of New Mexico (USA) and IRCAM (Paris). She has produced numerous specially commissioned works. Her music is published under her own label, "little salt".
EDU HAUBENSAK
born in Helsinki in 1954. Studies of composition at the Basle Academy of Music (1976–79). He developed scenic music compositions, electronic works and chamber musical works. Haubensak is a co-founder of the Fabrikkomposition concert series at Zurich’s Rote Fabrik. Haubensak has taken an intense interest in instruments with new tunings. Masterclasses with Heinz Holliger and Klaus Huber. He has been invited to international festivals and collaborates with musicians and orchestras in all Europe. Edu Haubensaks’ catalogue contains vocal and instrumental orchestra and chamber music, works for the radio, as well as concept compositions and performances. He lives and works in Zurich.
JOHANNES KELLER
Johannes Keller was raised in East Switzerland and now lives in Basel. He studied privately with Andreas Schweizer and Naoki Kitaya and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He received a Diploma for Early Music Performance (Cembalo) as student of Jörg-Andreas Bötticher in 2008 and completed a Master of Arts (Generalbass and Ensemble-Direction) with Jesper Christensen and Andrea Marcon in 2010. In 2010 he received scholarship prizes from Lions Club Basel and the Canton Thurgau, and was chosen for the "Akademie Musiktheater heute" of the Deutsche Bank Foundation. He is co-founder of the basso-continuo ensemble "Il Profondo" and the duo "L’Istante" (with violinist Anaïs Chen). He is a regular collaborator of Andrea Marcon, assisting with opera productions in the Theater Basel and Oper Frankfurt. He also works as assistant to Christian Curnyn (Oper Frankfurt and Staatstheater Stuttgart) and Michael Form (Theater Heidelberg). He has participated in CD productions for "Deutsche Grammophon", "Cantus" and "France 2". He works regularly with various ensembles including "La Cetra" (Baroque orchestra Basel) and the "Venice Baroque Orchestra". His research interest focusses on chromaticenharmonic (using more than 12 notes per octave) instruments and music of the 16th and 17th centuries. In this context he has collaborated with contemporary composers including Vito Žuraj and José Sanchez-Verdù, and as guest with groups including "Ensemble Modern". Since summer 2013 he teaches "Intonation und Stimmungen" at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
WALTER ZIMMERMANN
German. Born Schwabach, Franconia, on April 15,1949. Early studies of oboe, violin, piano; first compositions at age of 12. 1968-70, composition studies with Werner Heider in Nuremberg; pianist in Heider’s ars nova ensemble. Briefly attended Mauricio Kagel’s New Music Courses in Cologne. 1970-73, studied simultaneously at the Institute for Sonology (Utrecht) and the Jaap-Kunst Ethnology Centre (Amsterdam). 1974, computer studies in Hamilton USA. 1975-6, ethnological research, gathering folk music, especially from American Indian reservations. 1977, founded Beginner Studio in Cologne; organised concert series there till 1984. From 1982, composition teacher at the Liège Conservatoire. 1982-84 taught at Darmstadt Summer Courses. 1988 teaching post at Royal Conservatoire den Haag; visiting professor at Folkwangshochschule. 1985 book publication "Morton Feldman Essays" (Kerpen 1985). 1986 Berlin. 1987 Villa Massimo, Rom. 1988 Prix Italia for "Die Blinden". 1988 Teaching at Koninglijk Konservatorium Den Haag. 1988-93 Frankfurt. 1989 Schneider-Schott Prize. 1989 "Composer to Composer" Telluride (Colorado, USA). 1990-92 composition teacher in Karlsruhe. 1992 organisation (together with Stefan Schädler) of the Festival ANARCHIC HARMONY in Frankfurt, on the occassion of John Cage’s 80th birthday. 1993-2014 Professor of Composition at Berlin University for the Arts. 1996 masterclasses "June in Buffalo" (USA). 2003 guest professor (one year) at ESMUC Barcelona. 2005 Lecturer Julliard School, Columbia University, NYC. 2005 masterclasses Universidad de Alcalà de Henares, Spain. 2006 Lecturer Shanghai Conservatory, Beijing Central Conservatory. 2006 Member of the Akademie der Künste. 2007 Composer in Residence New England Conservatory Boston. 2009 Honorary professor of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. 2012 transcription of John Cage’s "Sixteen Dances" for Piano (found at NYPL), editor of the book John Cage “Empty Mind”. (Bibliothek Suhrkamp)
CLARENZ BARLOW
1945 born into Calcutta’s English-speaking minority. 1951-65 studied piano and music theory. 1957 first compositions. 1962-65 studied natural sciences in Calcutta. 1966-68 active as pianist, conductor, music theory teacher. 1968-73 studied composition and electronic music in Cologne. 1971 first use of a computer as a compositional aid. 1982-1994 taught computer music at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. 1984-2005 lecturer on computer music at Cologne Music University. 1990-94 artistic director of the Institute of Sonology The Hague. 1994-2006 professor of composition and sonology in The Hague. Since 2006 Corwin professor and head of composition at the Music Department, University of California, Santa Barbara.