Andre Mark
Born in 1964 in Paris, he studied composition, counterpoint, harmony, analysis and musical research at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMP), and composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart. His teachers included Claude Ballif, Gérard Grisey and Helmut Lachenmann. He also studied musicology at the ENS and the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance in Tours. He participated in composition masterclasses with Wolfgang Rihm in Darmstadt and studied electronic music with André Richard at the Experimental Studio of the SWR in Freiburg in Breisgau Since 1997 he has been teaching counterpoint and orchestration at the Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg and the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt, and since 2009 has also taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden. He returned to the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music as a lecturer in 2006 and 2010, as well as running classes at the European Academy of the Aix-en-Provence festival and the Takefu International Music Festical in 2010.
His numerous scholarships include the Schloss Solitude Academy (1996), DAAD (1996, 2005), Villa Medici in Rome (1996, 1998–2000), SWR and the City of Baden-Baden (1997), Ernst von Siemens Foundation (2002), and Berlin Art Prize (2008). In 1996 he was awarded the Kranichsteiner Music Prize for his works un-fini Iand le loin et le profond. The following year, he won the 1st Prize at the International Composition Competition in Stuttgart for Le Trou noir univers. In 2001, he received a scholarship and composition prize from the Frankfurt Opera for his work das O… (first movement of …22,13…), which was premiered by the Ensemble Modern conducted by Johannes Debus. The entire “passion theatre” …22,13…, written for the Munich Biennale and the City Theatre in Mainz, was premiered in Munich in 2004 (directed by Georges Delnon) and subsequently performed in Paris’ Opéra Bastille during the Festival d’Automne.
In 2006 he received the Christoph and Stefan Kaske Composition Prize, and in 2007 the Giga Hertz Production Prize for his electronic music. The same year, his composition …auf… 3 was awarded at the Donaueschingen Festival. In 2009, the full version of the orchestral trilogy …auf… was performed in Berlin.
In 2009 he became a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, followed by the Saxon Akademie der Künste a year later. In 2011 he became a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
His works are commissioned by the Ensemble Modern, ensemble recherche, Trio Accanto, Klangforum Wien, KNM Berlin, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Ensemble Alternance, EIC, and others. Mark André lives in Berlin.
S e l e c t e d w o r k s: ein abgrund for baritone, viola and cello, after Georg Büchner ’s Woyzeck (1992), le trou noir univers for orchestra and live electronics (1992–93), le loin et le profondfor chamber ensemble (1994–95), un-fini I for harp (1995), un-fini for chamber ensemble (1995–96), ab 1 for contrabass clarinet, two percussions, piano and cello (1996–97), ab 2 for contrabass clarinet, two percussions, piano, cello and live electronics (1996–97), kanon for contrabass clarinet, double bass and prepared piano (2000), …als… 1 for bass clarinet, cello and piano (2001), …als… 2 for bass clarinet, cello, piano and live electronics (2001), kontra-etüde for voice, cello (or double bass) and bassoon (2001), asche for bass flute, bass clarinet, viola, cello and piano (2004), …zu… for string trio (2003/05), zu staub for seven instruments (2005), durch for soprano saxophone, percussion and piano (2004–05), … auf… 1 for orchestra (2005–06), …hoc… for cello and live electronics (2005–06), ni for chamber ensemble (2006), …auf… 2 for orchestra (2007), …auf… 3 for orchestra and live electronics (2007), iv 2 for cello (2007), … es… for chamber ensemble (2008), iv 3 for clarinet (2008), üg for ensemble and electronics (2008), kar for string orchestra (2008–09), iv 4 for flute, oboe, clarinet and tuba (2008–09), iv 7 for contrabass clarinet (2008–09), iv 6a for trumpet (2009–10), iv 6b for trumpet (2009–10), iv 8 for string trio (2009–10), …hij… 1 for orchestra (2010), iv1 for piano (2010), iv 9 for flute, oboe and clarinet (2010), da for chamber ensemble (2010–11), iv 11 for piano (2011).
