For the upcoming International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt (2 to 16 August 2014) IMD asks young ensembles for New Music to apply for the project boost!. Deadline for applications is 31 July 2013. more
14.05.13
New release: "New Music at Darmstadt" by Martin Iddon
In his new book "New Music at Darmstadt", recently published with Cambridge University Press, Martin Iddon explores the early years of the Darmstadt Summer Course. Through a wealth of primary sources - many of them from the IMD archives - and analytical commentary he investigates how the image of a coherent "Darmstadt School" could be created, despite the very diverse range of compositional practices on display at the courses. The book also explores the collapse of the seeming collegiality of the Darmstadt composers, which crystallised, according to Iddon, around John Cages presence there in 1958.
Also recently published with CUP: The correspondence of John Cage and David Tudor, edited and annotated by Martin Iddon.
"Prisma Darmstadt“: Ensemble Modern on 14 May at Alte Oper
The trends of contemporary music of the past decades are the paradigms for the concert series „Prisma Darmstadt“ – planned and played by Ensmble Modern. The project will be seeing already its the fifth part on 14 May 2013 – this time exploring the topic „Current. Music and Technology“ and the manifold possibilities of combining live instruments and electronic music. Two premieres by Martin Matalon and Oscar Bianchi, both made possible by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, will be the central pieces of the evening. As a reference, we will be listening to one of the earliest pieces including electronic music, Luciano Berio’s „Différences“ and a composer mostly known for his works with electronics: Jonathan Harvey. The ensemble will be performing two of his works as a homage to the recently deceased British composer. Stefan Asbury will be conducting.
Tuesday 14 May 2013 | 8pm | Alte Oper Frankfurt | Mozart Saal
Im Alter von 78 Jahren ist am 1. Mai 2013 die Pianistin Erika Haase in Darmstadt verstorben. Haase war als Interpretin in besonderer Weise der Musik des 20. Jahrhunderts verpflichtet. In Darmstadt geboren, studierte sie bei Hans Leygraf und erhielt wesentliche künstlerische Impulse bei den Internationalen Ferienkursen für Neue Musik, wo sie bereits 1954 teilnahm, Kurse bei Yvonne Loriod, David Tudor und Eduard Steuermann (Foto) belegte und 1959 mit dem Kranichsteiner Musikpreis ausgezeichnet wurde. Es folgte eine umfangreiche pädagogische und solistische Tätigkeit im In- und Ausland mit zahlreichen Ur- und Erstaufführungen. Ab 1967 lehrte Erika Haase bis zu ihrer Pensionierung im Jahr 2000 als Professorin für Klavier an der Musikhochschule Hannover, wo unter anderem Ingo Metzmacher zu ihren Schülern zählte. Die CD-Einspielungen von Erika Haase wurden regelmäßig mit Preisen ausgezeichnet, darunter die Klavieretüden von Franz Liszt sowie die Gesamteinspielung der Klavier- und Cembalowerke György Ligetis, mit dem sie eine langjährige Freundschaft und Zusammenarbeit verband.
Erika Haase mit Eduard Steuermann bei den Darmstädter Ferienkursen 1960
21.04.13
Great response on Call Staubach Honoraria 2014
As in the last two editions the International Call for the Staubach Honoraria 2014 had great response. By 1st April 2013 (application deadline) IMD received around 130 submissions by composers from 35 countries which will now be reviewed by a jury consisting of Martin Iddon, Hans Thomalla and IMD's director Thomas Schäfer. We are sorry that almost 50 applications could not be considered for formal reasons.
The jury will come to its decision by mid-June. Afterwards we will also announce the ensembles for which the three Staubach Honoraria holderwill bes asked to write new pieces. The premieres of the new works will take place in August 2014 within the scope of the 47th International Summer Course for New Music.
Since 2008 the Alice and Harry Eiler Foundation is committed to the Darmstadt Summer Course. After a test run the Staubach Honoraria were brought to life in 2010 in today’s form: Young composers are selected from an international call by a jury and afterwards are asked to write a new piece for one of the invited ensembles and for the next Darmstadt Course.
08.03.13
I hereby resign from New Music – Conference and concert in Boston
A passionate debate is raging in Germany on where New Music is headed in the digital age.
During the last International Summer Course of New Music Darmstadt the Frankfurt based musicologist/journalist Michael Rebhahn held a lecture headed "I hereby resign from New Music". The title refers to a postcard, written by Joseph Beuys: "I hereby resign from Art".
In a mini-conference and concert (13 to 15 April 2013) organized by Harvard University’s Music Department and the Goethe-Institut Boston, two composers and two journalist/musicologist/philosophers present and discuss the latter, rather controversial perspective on New Music.
Michael Rebhahn will present a sequel to his text “I hereby resign from New Music” in dialog with two young German composers, Johannes Kreidler and Hannes Seidl (both leading new trends among an emerging community that is actively engaged with these questions), and with music/art philosopher Harry Lehmann, another current thinker examining this terrain.
Als Johannes Kreidler bei den Ferienkursen 2010 seine Lecture "Musik mit Musik" (Video auf Youtube; Text erschienen in: Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik Bd. 21) hielt, war bereits eine recht kontroverse Diskussion über die Konsequenzen der digitalen Revolution für das Komponieren im Gange, die Kreidlers gleichnamiger Text aus dem Jahr 2007 angestoßen hatte. Darin und später in der Darmstadt-Lecture beschrieb der in Berlin lebende Komponist die ästhetischen Implikationen seiner Arbeitsweise mit (vorgefundenen) Soundfiles und computergestützten Kompositionsverfahren. Zur Komponisten-Generation der „digital natives“, also jene, die mit Hard- und Software aufgewachsen ist und auf vielfältige Weise digitalisierte Musik in ihren Stücken einsetzt, gehören auch Martin Schüttler, Alexander Schubert und Stefan Prins - drei von ihnen übrigens Träger des Kranichsteiner Musikpreises für Komposition: Martin Schüttler wurde 2002 ausgezeichnet, Stefan Prins 2010 und Johannes Kreidler 2012.
"Nicht Musik über Musik, sondern mit Musik" - Eine Sendung von Christoph Reimann am Dienstag, 26. Februar um 22:00 Uhr in hr2 kultur.
Там, где мужчины обмениваются выстрелами, всегда замешана юбка.
20.02.13
Otto Tomek gestorben
Mit Otto Tomek ist am 18. Februar einer der wichtigsten Protagonisten und Zeitzeugen der Neuen Musik nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg gestorben. Sein gesamtes Berufsleben über hat sich Tomek stark für die Neue Musik engagiert, zunächst bei der Universal Edition, ab 1957 als Abteilungsleiter für Neue Musik beim WDR in Köln, wo er die Konzertreihe "Musik der Zeit" betreute und dem Studio für elektronische Musik des WDR zu Epoche machenden Kompositionsaufträgen verhalf. 1971 wechselte Otto Tomek nach Baden-Baden, um als Musikchef das Erbe von Heinrich Strobel anzutreten. Dazu gehörten die Programmgestaltung der Donaueschinger Musiktage und die Gründung des Experimentalstudios der Heinrich-Strobel-Stiftung. Ab 1977 war er elf Jahre lang Hauptabteilungsleiter Musik beim Süddeutschen Rundfunk.
Seit seinem ersten Besuch der Darmstädter Ferienkurse 1954 war Tomek auch mit dem Internationalen Musikinstitut Darmstadt eng verbunden. Sowohl als Autor zahlreicher Rundfunksendungen über die Ferienkurse als auch als Herausgeber, Redakteur und Autor des 1996 erschienenen Jubiläumsbandes "Von Kranichstein zur Gegenwart. 50 Jahre Darmstädter Ferienkurse".
Otto Tomek (links) mit Cathy Berberian und Karlheinz Stockhausen 1956 in Darmstadt
17.02.13
René Leibowitz: Centenary of Birth
René Leibowitz is one of the formative figures in the early years of the Darmstadt Summer Course. As conductor and tutor he especially promoted the music of the Viennese School and was one of the first in Darmstadt to impart knowledge on Schoenberg's twelve-tone method. 17 Februar is the centenary of birth of René Leibowitz.
Born in 1913 in Warsaw, Leibowitz entered into contact with members of the Schoenberg circle in Paris in the 1930s and began to study the scores of Schoenberg and his pupils intensely. Several texts and books resulted out of this, most of them only published after the Second World War: Schoenberg et son école (1947), Qu’est-ce que la musique de douze sons? (1948) and Introduction à la musique de douze sons (1949) were among the first monographs on the Viennese School and particularly on twelve-tone music.
In Darmstadt, Leibowitz conducted the first German performance of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto op. 42 in 1948 with Peter Stadlen as soloist. It was the first larger twelve-tone work on the Darmstadt programs. His Darmstadt twelve-tone courses in 1948 and 1949 had great response, Hans Ulrich Engelmann, Hans Werner Henze and Bernd Alois Zimmermann were among the participants. Other young composers like Pierre Boulez had already taken lessons with Leibowitz in Paris. After his composition classes of 1948 and 1949 Leibowitz returned to Darmstadt in 1954 with lectures on Webern's late works and in 1955 again with a composition course.
The CD series "Darmstadt Aural Documents" contains Leibowitz' Kammersymphonie für zwölf Instrumente (1946-1948), a recording of the world premiere during the Darmstadt Summer Course 1948 and conducted by himself.
René Leibowitz (right), here with pianist Peter Stadlen in Darmstadt
"Nothing is impossible if you spend enough time working it out"
Irvine Arditti, one of the leading interpreters of New Music is celebrating his 60th birthday today. Born in London in 1953, the violinist founded the Arditti String Quartet in the 1970s and since then, the name Arditti is synonymous with contemporary string quartet. Several hundreds of new works have been inspired and premiered by the group around Irvine Arditti, always in close collaboration with the composers.
There is a long and intense relation to Darmstadt as well: In 1982, he appeared as tutor of the International Summer Course for New Music for the first time and since that time the Arditti Quartet played concerts in almost every course year. During the past Darmstadt Summer Course in 2012, the Arditti Quartet premiered five new works by young composers (Patricia Alessandrini, Andrew Greenwald, Steven Daverson, Samy Moussa und Evis Sammoutis) and also played Brian Ferneyhough's 6th String Quartet.
One of the concert highlights of Darmstadt 2012 also was Irvine Arditti's breathtaking performance of John Cage's Freeman Etudes, the second part of which is dedicated to him.
Irvine Arditti during the performance of the Freeman Etudes in Darmstadt 2012 (Photo: Stefan Daub) and 1990 with John Cage in Darmstadt (Photo: Manfred Melzer)
01.02.13
Darmstadt Concert of Curious Chamber Players on Youtube
The Curious Chamber Players have published excerpts from their concert at the 46th International Summer Course for New Music 2012 on Youtube, including the World premieres by Ashley Fure (Commissioned for the Staubach Honoraria) and Malin Bang (Fellowship prize winner of the 2010 Darmstadt Summer Course).
The IMD takes responsibility for the Reinhard Schulz Prize
The IMD is glad to link the „Reinhard Schulz Prize for contemporary music journalism“ to the institute with the beginning of 2013. In 2012 the prize – which was created to support young talented music journalists – was granted for the first time. The first prizewinner is the dramaturg at Stuttgart Opera, Patrick Hahn. In 2014 the biennal awarded prize will be granted for the second time within the 47th International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt. The jury of five invited by the IMD exists of Peter Hagmann (Chairman; Neue Zürcher Zeitung / CH), Eleonore Büning (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung / D), Stefan Fricke (Hessian Broadcasting Company / D), Daniel Ender (Austrian Music Magazine, the standard / A) and Bjørn Woll (FonoForum / D). The announcement for the next Reinhard Schulz Prize will be published in September 2013 – also on this website.
The International Music Institute Darmstadt compliments Brian Ferneyhough on his 70th birthday on 16 January!
Brian Ferneyhough is closely connected to IMD and the International Summer Course for New Music since 1976: first as lecturer in composition, in the 1980s as coordinator of the composers forum which was initiated by Friedrich Hommel.
A large number of his compositions were premiered in Darmstadt, in July 2012 ensemble recherche played the premiere of his piece Liber Scintillarum. Please find here an overview on Brian Ferneyhough's diverse Darmstadt activities from 1976 to 2012.
Next to his outstanding reputation as a composer he also counts among the most important composition teachers of his generation. He taught composition at Musikhochschule Freiburg/Breisgau, at Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan, at Royal Conservatory Den Haag, and at the University of California, San Diego. In 2007, Ferneyhough’s career achievements were recognized by an Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
Brian Ferneyhough bei den Ferienkursen 2008 (Photo: Günther Jockel)
Ictus & Spectra: Advanced Master for Contemporary Music
Since the 2009-2010 academic year, the Faculty of Music - University College Ghent, in collaboration with the Ghent based Spectra ensemble & the Brussels based Ictus ensemble, is offering a new Master program with emphasis on Contemporary Chamber Music.
This advanced program is designed for musicians already holding an academic master’s degree or an equivalent qualification and wishing to combine further specialization in performing contemporary solo & chamber music with developing their professional career.
Coaching to enhance specialist and artistic skills will be given by renowned new music performers including members of the Spectra and the Ictus ensemble. Further complementary theoretical and practical courses will be offered at the Conservatory of Gent Faculty of Music.
By March 25 (entrance examination on April 22nd) students can apply for the next academic year starting in October 2013. Please find more details on the Ictus website.
Otto Tomek (links) mit Cathy Berberian und Karlheinz Stockhausen 1956 in Darmstadt
