Furrer Beat
Born in 1954 in Schaffhausen (Switzerland), where he started to learn the piano. In 1975 he moved to Vienna, where he studied conducting with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati at the city’s Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. In 1985 he founded Klangforum Wien, serving as its artistic director until July 1992; he continues to cooperate with this ensemble as a conductor on a regular basis.
His first opera, Die Blinden, based on the works of Maeterlinck and Plato, was commissioned by the Vienna State Opera in 1989. His subsequent theatrical works have been presented in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, mainly at festivals of modern music. The composer ’s latest work, lotófagos II, had its world premiere in June 2008 during the Agora festival in Paris.
In autumn 1991 he was appointed professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz. In 1996 he was composer-inresidence at the Lucerne festival. Since 2006 he has been visiting professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main.
In 2004 he was awarded the Music Prize of the City of Vienna, and in 2005 he became a member of the Akademie des Künste in Berlin. In 2006 he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Biennale in Venice for his sound theatre composition Fama. This year Beat Furrer was composer-in-residence at the Time of Music festival in Viitasaari in Finland. Premieres of his new compositions are included in the programmes of this year ’s festival at Donaueschingen, Wien Modern festival and the John Cage Centennial Festival in Washington.
S e l e c t e d w o r k s ( s i n c e 1 9 9 5 ): Quartet for percussion (1995), Time Out I for flute, harp and strings (1995), Time Out II for flute, harp and strings (1995–96), Nuun for two pianos and ensemble (1995–96), Voices for mixed choir and four percussions, to words by Leonardo da Vinci and Christine Huber (1996), Stimme–allein for baritone, to words by Georg Büchner (1997), a due for viola and piano (1997), presto for flute and piano (1997), Psalm “Gloria tibi Domine“ for 8-voice a cappella choir (1997), spur for piano and string quartet (1998), stillfor ensemble (1998), solofor cello (1999), ariafor soprano and six instruments, to words by Günter Eich (1999), voices–stillfor choir and ensemble (2000–01), auf tönernen füssen for voice and flute, to words by Friederike Mayröcker (2001), Orpheus’ Bücherfor choir and orchestra, to texts by Cesare Pavese, Ovid and Virgil (2001), Begehren, musical theatre to a libretto by Beat Furrer, Christine Huber and Wolfgang Hofer after Cesare Pavese, Günter Eich, Ovid and Virgil (2001), Phasmafor piano (2002), invocation, opera to a libretto by Ilma Rakusa and Beat Furrer after Marguerite Duras, Ovid, Cesare Pavese and others (2002–03), andere stimmen for violin and orchestra (2003), Three Piano Pieces (2003–04), recitativo for voice and ensemble (2004; part of Fama), Invo ca tion III for soprano and ensemble, to an anonymous 16thcentury text (2004), Fassung for soprano and flute, to an anonymous 16thcentury text (2004), apoklisis for two bass clarinets (2004), String Quartet No. 3 (2004), Fama, sound theatre in eight scenes for large ensemble, voices and actress (2005),lotófagos for soprano and double bass, to words by José Ángel Valente (2006), canti notturni for two sopranos and orchestra, to words by Carlo Emilio Gadda (2006), antichesisfor 14 strings (2006), Phaos for orchestra (2006), enigma for a mixed choir a cappella, to words by Leonardo da Vinci (2006), fragmentos de un libro futuro for soprano and guitar quartet, to words by José Ángel Valente (2007), Concerto for Piano and Ensemble (2007), Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2007), lotófagos IIfor two sopranos, instruments and electronics (2008), Xenosfor ensemble (2008), Aponfor orchestra and speaking voice, to words by Händl Klaus (2009), Wüstenbuch, musical theatre for ensemble and speaking voice to a libretto by the composer after Händl Klaus, Ingeborg Bachmann, Antonia Machado, Lucretius and Berlin Papyrus 3024 (2009), Xenos II (2009), Xenos III for two percussion and strings (2010), Study for Piano (2011).
