Strasnoy Oscar
Born in 1970 in Buenos Aires, he studied piano, conducting and composition at the Conservatorio de Buenos Aires with Laura Baada and Guillermo Scarabino. In 1992–98 he was the recipient of the Antorchas Foundation scholarship and in 1996–98, of the Grüneisen Foundation (Mozarteum Argentino) scholarship.
After moving to Europe he continued his studies with Michaël Lévinas and Gérard Grisey at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (in 1995 on a scholarship from the French government), graduating with a Prix à l’Unanimité and Prix Spécial du Jury in composition (1996). For two years (1995–96) he also studied with Hans Zender at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankurt, and in 1997 he studied in London with John Carene. Back in France he was the music director and first conductor of the Orchestre du Crous de Paris (1996–98).
In 1998 he was awarded a scholarship from the Fondation Nadia et Lili Boulanger. In 1999 he graduated from the Villa Médicis Hors les Murs and was invited by Peter Eötvös to attend the Herrenhaus Edenkoben in Germany. In 2001 he was composer-in-residence at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart.
Luciano Berio awarded him the Premio Orpheus in 2000 for his opera Midea, produced at the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto (2000) and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (2001). His compositions have been performed in Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Japan, Romania, and Argentina by, amongst others, the Berlin Philharmonic, IRCAM, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Musée d’Orsay, Festival Musica in Strasbourg, Rendez-Vous Musique Nouvelle in Forbach.
In 2003 on the invitation of the French-Japanese Institute in Kyoto, he undertook a six-month residency at the Villa Kujoyama. He travelled to Japan by train, in order to learn the landscapes of Russia, country of origin of his family.
Among his awards and distinctions are the SACEM George Enescu Prize (2004). In 2006 he was artist-in-residence at the Civitella Rainieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy. In 2007 he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for Music Composition. Also in 2007, a recording of his cantata Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K) received the Académie du Disque Lyrique award for modern stage music. Oscar Strasnoy receives commissions from European and American art institutions. His works have been performed by the leading French orchestras and ensembles, such as Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Ensemble 2e2m, Itinéraire, and have been presented in England, Japan, Poland, Russia, Romania, Argentina, Italy and Hungary.
In 2004 his operetta a cappella Die Geschichte after Gombrowicz was featured at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, Opéra de Lille and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, as well as in Lublin, Poland. In 2005 Strasnoy undertook a tour of Russia, visiting Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaluga and Voronezh. He is also active as a pianist. Together with Pablo Márquez (guitar) and Gabriel Said (percussion), he co-founded Trio Ego Armand, which made many artistic tours of Europe, Japan and Argentina, performing e.g. Strasnoy’s music to live screenings of Anthony Asquithe’s silent film Underground of 1928 (a Musée du Louvre commission).
This year, the composer ’s new opera Slutchaï will be premiered, commissioned by the Opéra de Bordeaux.
www.oscarstrasnoy.info
S e l e c t e d w o r k s ( s i n c e 1 9 9 5 ): piano 2 britannicus for piano (1995), piano 3 de Colchide à Corinthe for piano (1997), Bloc-notes de Midea 1, 2, 6 for ensemble and vocals (1996–99), Bloc-notes de Midea 4 for six instruments (1998), Bloc-notes de Midea 5 for 12 instruments (1998), Mano brava (from Two Tangos) for instrumental ensemble (1999), piano 4 cinq pièces for piano (1999), Derrumbe (from Two tangos) for soprano saxophone, bandoneón, double bass and piano (1999), acrobata for violin (2000), Bloc-notes d’Ephemera1, five works for eight instruments (2001), Bloc-notes d’Ephemera 2 for two pianos (2001), piano 5 exercices de Latinité for piano (2002), J’ai la fureur d’aimer for two voices and piano (2002), oh for countertenor (2002), Midea, opera to a libretto by Irina Possamai (1996–2003), Geschichte, operetta a cappella for six soloists after Witold Gombrowicz (2003), Opérette, to a libretto after Gombrowicz (2002–03), Panorama for female voice (2003), Serial Torofor alto saxophone and percussion (2003), Six Songs for an Unquiet Traveller for mezzo-soprano and ensemble, to words by Alberto Manguela (2004), Naipes, six works for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano (1995, rev. 2005), Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K), stage cantata for two voices and ensemble, to words from Franz Kafka’s Diaries in dialogue with J. S. Bach’s cantata Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten BWV 202 (2000, rev. 2005), Fabula, pocket opera for countertenor and viola d’amore, to a libretto by Alejandro Tantanian and Renate Ackermann, after an Italian folk text (2005), Five Songs for Ingrid Caven for voice and piano, to words by W. W. Fassbender, H. M. Enzensberger and J.-J. Schuhl (2005), Scherzo for orchestra (2006, written for the sum cycle), The End for orchestra (2006, written from the sum cycle), Toy for piano and five percussions (2005–06), L’instant, opera for countertenor, two actors, choirs and symphony orchestra, to a libretto by Alejandro Tantanian (2007), Sur Babel for mixed choir a cappella (2008), Quodlibet for the Ego Armand Quintet (2008), sum for symphony orchestra (2008), Le Bal, opera to a libretto by Matthew Jocelyn after Irène Némirovsky (2009), Cachafaz, tragedy in two acts to a libretto by Copi (Raúla Damonte Botany) for two voices, actor, choir and instrumental ensemble (2010), Un Retour, chamber opera to a libretto by Alberto Manguela (2010), Trois Caprices de Paganini, violin concerto on motives from three Capriccios, Op. 1 by Niccolò Paganini (2011), Incipit (Sum No. 1) for symphony orchestra (2011), Y(Sum No. 2) for symphony orchestra (2011), Dido & Aeneas – Henry Purcell, adaptation of Purcell’s opera for seven soloists, two pianos, trumpet, trombone and two percussions (2011), Heine, song cycle to words by Heinrich Heine for tenor and/or mezzo-soprano and piano (2011), Usages du monde fo children’s or women’s choir and instrumental ensemble, to words by Baronne Staffe (2011).
