Muntendorf, Brigitta
She studied composition in Bremen with Younghi Pagh-Paan and Günther Steinke and in Cologne with Krzysztof Meyer, Rebecca Saunders, and Johannes Schöllhorn. During her studies, she founded Ensemble Garage to create an independent platform for musicians, composers, and artists of different professions to develop new works and concert formats through collective and cooperative rehearsing.
In her work as a composer as well as the artistic director of Ensemble Garage, she follows the vision of a music that refers through multilayered contextualisation to different art forms and modes of expression. Furthermore she works on the translation of social phenomena into music by exploring rhizomatic settings. ese ideas are mirrored in different music theatre works she composed in collaboration with art director Thierry Bruehl for the pocket opera festival in Salzburg since 2011. With her public privacy series for solo performer, YouTube performers and electronics, she established the concept of "social composing" and experienced with different formats of artistic collaboration in public spaces. In 2016 the Wittener Kammermusiktage presented the series as a three-day performance with an additional audiovisual installation. Her latest projects include music theatre works for the Munich Biennale (2016) and Éclat Festival in Stuttgart (2017) and a commission for the City Dance Cologne (a twelve-hour performance for 400 musicians and 80 dancers).
She has also received commissions from various festivals in Germany such as 8 Bridges Festival in Cologne or ensemble:europa (WDR), and has been awarded prizes including the Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize, Carl von Ossietzky Prize, and 1st Prize of the High School of Music and Dance in Cologne. In 2014 she received the Ernst von Siemens Foundation Prize and presented her first CD, it may be all an illusion, which will be supplemented by an online platform with her most recent video pieces.
Apart from her close collaboration with Ensemble Garage, she has worked with different ensembles such as Ensemble Mosaik, oh-Ton, Asko/Schönberg, PHACE, Calefax, Decoder, Klangforum Wien, Musikfabrik, and Ensemble Modern. She teaches composition at the University of Siegen. She has also been a guest lecturer at the High School of Music and Dance in Cologne and runs regular composition workshops. She lives in Cologne and Vienna.
Selected works: Conzerrt in Streifen for tape and video (2005), Klangviren for orchestra (2006), Chicken&Chickets / Latexkonzert, performance (2008), moving in between, video and sound composition (with Julia Weissenberg, 2008-9), Crack for large orchestra (2008-9), Hinterhall for saxophone, percussion, video and lights (2009), Überhall for clarinet, violin, saxophone, trombone, double bass, percussion, recorded sounds and video (2009), Poetry for saxophone, trombone, cello, double bass, electric guitar, voice, synthesizer and two percussionists (2009), Hörzu for 11 instruments (2009), Die Leute, sound installation for the World's Fair in Hanover (2009-10), reinhören for ensemble (2010), durchhören for five woodwinds (2011), Yes, Master for four performers and recorded sounds (2011), ...und auch woanders, music theatre for narrator, conductor and ensemble (2011), Wer zum Teufel ist Gerty, music theatre for two actors, two singers and ensemble (2011), Etikette for alto saxophone and bass clarinet (2011), Sweetheart, Goodbye for voice, mono speaker and eight instruments (2011-12), Abschminken for video, mezzo-soprano, bass flute, piano, percussion, viola and cello (2012), Rundum schlag for flute, electric guitar, piano, percussion, violin and cello (2012), Hello Body, video installation for actress and voice (2012), In Sync for two large ensembles (2012), behind her back for percussion, flute, clarinet, viola, trombone, piano and lights (2012-13), shivers on speed for bass flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello and piano (2012-13), missing T for thirteen instruments (2013), Endlich Opfer for four singers, children's choir, actor, ensemble, video and recorded sounds (2013), Public Privacy #1 Piano Cover for keyboard, video and recorded sounds (2013), Public Privacy #2 Flute Cover for flute, video and recorded sounds (2013), Public Privacy #3 Trumpet Cover for trumpet, video, recorded sounds and live electronics (2013), Public Privacy #City, performance in public space (2014), Islands of Light, performance (2014), Key of Presence for two pianos, electronics and recorded sounds (2014-15), Public Privacy #4 Leap In the Dark for electric guitar, video and recorded sounds (2015), Living Thesis, audiovisual installation (2015), Free Play, audiovisual installation for three performers (2015), Bronze by Gold for soprano, six boys, two actors, ensemble, electronics and video (2015), play me back and forth for soprano, clarinet, cello, sampler, drumset, e-zither, video and electronics (2015), City Dance Köln, project for 500 participants (2016), Wahwah, dance performance for seven dancers and quadraphonic tape (2016), iScreen, YouScream!, social media opera for ensemble, actress, live audio and video (2016-17).