Andre, Mark

Born 1964 in Paris, he studied composition and music theory at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique and composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart. His teachers included Claude Ballif, Gérard Grisey, and Helmut Lachenmann. His musicological research has focused on Renaissance music. He has taken part in composition courses at Darmstadt with Wolfgang Rihm and studied electronic music with André Richard at the Heinrich Strobel Foundation’s Experimental Studio of the SWR in Freiburg. Since 1997 he has taught counterpoint and orchestration at the Conservatoire National de Région de Strasbourg and the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt, and composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden since 2009. He returned to the Darmstadt Summer Courses in 2006 and 2010 as a lecturer. In 2010 he also conducted courses at the European Academy of the Festival International d’Art Lyrique in Aix-en-Provence and at the Takefu International Music Festival.

Mark Andre has received scholarships notably from the Akademie Schloss Solitude (1996), DAAD (1996, 2005), Villa Medici in Rome (1996, 1998–2000), the SWR and the city of BadenBaden (1997), Ernst von Siemens Foundation (2002), and the Berlin Art Prize (2008). In 1996 he was awarded the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis for his compositions un-fini I and le loin et le profond. A year later he won the 1st Prize in the Stuttgart International Composers’ Competition for his le trou noir univers. In 2001 he won a scholarship and the composer prize of Frankfurt Opera for ...das O... (Part 1: ...22,13...), premiered by Ensemble Modern under Johannes Debus. The complete “musical passion play” ...22,13..., composed for the Munich Biennale and Staatstheater Mainz, was first performed in Munich in 2004 (dir. Georges Delnon) and later staged, among others, in Paris during the Festival d’Automne in the Opéra Bastille.

In 2006 Andre won the Christoph und Stephan Kaske Foundation Prize, and in 2007 the Giga Hertz Production Prize for electronic music. In the same year, his ...auf... 3 was awarded at the festival in Donaueschingen. 2009 saw the premiere of the full version of this orchestral triptych in Berlin.

In 2009 Mark Andre became a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, and a year later of the Saxon Academy of Arts. In 2011 the French Minister of Culture granted him the title of the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Mark Andre’s compositions have been commissioned by Ensemble Modern, ensemble recherche, Trio Accanto, Klangforum Wien, KNM Berlin, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Ensemble Alternance, EIC, and others. He lives in Berlin.

Selected works: 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 profond for 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), kontraetüde for voice, cello / double bass and bassoon (2001), asche for bass flute, bass clarinet, viola, cello and piano (2004), ...zu... for string trio (2003–5), zu staub for seven instruments (2005), durch for soprano saxophone, percussion and piano (2004–5), ...auf... 1 for orchestra (2005–6), ...hoc... for cello and live electronics (2005–6), 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 (2008–9), iv 4 for flute, oboe, clarinet and tuba (2008–9), iv 7 for contrabass clarinet (2008–9), iv 6a for trumpet (2009–10), iv 6b for trumpet (2009–10), iv 8 for string trio (2009–10), ... hij... 1 for orchestra (2010), iv 1 for piano (2010), iv 9 for flute, oboe and clarinet (2010), da for chamber ensemble (2010–11), iv 11 for piano (2011), S1 for two pianos (2012), Zwischenraum for ensemble (2012), e for cello (2012), iv 5 for oboe (2012), ... hij... 2 for 24 voices and electronics (2012), Az for ensemble (2013), e 2 for cello and double bass (2013), iv 12 for soprano saxophone (2013), wunderzaichen, opera (2013), ensof for mixed choir (2014), iv 13a for string quartet (2014), iv 14 for two guitars (2014), riss 3 for ensemble (2014), 3 for 6 voices (2015), S2 for percussion (2015), S3 for piano and electronics (2015), über for clarinet, orchestra and electronics (2015), an for violin and orchestra (2015), iv 11c for piano (2015).