Institute of Musical Research
International Composers Seminars 2016-17
 

Beat Furrer
in conversation with Dr Edward Nesbit
 

Tuesday 8 November 2016, 18:15
Room 349, Senate House, Malet Street,
London WC1E 7HU

Admission free
 

Beat Furrer was born in Schaffhausen (Switzerland) in 1954 and received
his first musical training
on piano at the Music School there. After moving to Vienna in 1975, he
studied
conducting with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock
Ramati at
the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. In 1985 he founded the
Klangforum Wien, which he directed until 1992, and with which he is still
associated as conductor. Commissioned by the Vienna State Opera, he
composed
his first opera Die Blinden. His second opera Narcissus was
premiered in 1994 as part of the Festival ³steirischer herbst² at the Graz
Opera. In 1996 he was composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival. His
music
theatre work Begehren was premiered in Graz in 2001, the opera
invocation in Zürich in 2003 and the sound theatre piece FAMA in
Donaueschingen in 2005. In autumn 1991 Furrer became a full professor of
composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz. He
has
been guest professor in composition at the Hochschule für Musik und
Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt 2006­2009. Together with violinist Ernst
Kovacic he founded ³impuls², a International Ensemble and Composers
Academy for
Contemporary Music. In 2004 he was awarded the Music Prize of the City of
Vienna, and in 2005 became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. He
was
awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2006 for his work FAMA.
In 2010 his music theatre Wüstenbuch was premiered in Basel. In 2014 he was
awarded with Great Austrian State Prize. His latest opera La Bianca Notte
based
on texts by Dino Campana, was premiered in Hamburg in spring 2015. He is
currently working on his new opera Violetter Schnee (Violet Snow) based
on a Libretto by Vladimir Sorokin. Since the 1980s Beat Furrer has
composed a
wide range of works, from solo and ensemble music to orchestral and choral
works and opera. He is well know for his nuanced exploration of the human
voice
and its relationship to instrumental sound.
 

London Sinfonietta will perform Furrer¹s FAMA at St
John¹s Smith Square, London on Friday 11 November at 19:30.
Tickets: Concession price £5. Tel: 020 7960 4200
http://www.londonsinfonietta.org.uk/fama
 

A further performance of FAMA will take place at Huddersfield
Contemporary Music Festival on Sunday 20 November at 22:00.
http://hcmf.co.uk
 

IMR International Composer Seminars

A series of talks by leading international composers, linked to
performances of their work in the
UK. Organised by Dr Paul Archbold, in collaboration with Contemporary Music
Research Unit Goldsmiths, Guildhall School, Kings College London,
Institute of
Modern Languages Research, School of Advanced Study, University of
Huddersfield, Royal Holloway University of London, in association with BBC
Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Huddersfield Contemporary Music
Festival.