Michael Obst (composer)

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Michael Obst (born 30 November 1955) is a German composer and pianist.

Contents

Michael Obst in 2014 Michael Obst sw.jpg
Michael Obst in 2014

Life

Obst was born in Frankfurt am Main. He studied music education from 1973 to 1978 in Mainz, and from 1977 to 1982 studied piano with Alfons Kontarsky and Aloys Kontarsky at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, where he sat his piano examination in 1982. At the same time, between 1979 and 1986, he studied composition with Hans Ulrich Humpert in the Studio for Elektronic Music of the Hochschule für Musik Köln. From 1981 to 1992 he was the pianist and a founding member of the Ensemble Modern, from 1986 to 1989 he worked as an interpreter with Karlheinz Stockhausen, playing synthesizer in Stockhausen’s operatic cycle Licht. [1]

He was invited to the Studios of Ghent (IPEM), Stockholm (EMS), Bourges (Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges), Paris (IRCAM), and Freiburg (SWF-Heinrich Strobel Stiftung) as well as to the Studio for Electronic Music of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne. At IRCAM he realized the electronics for his chamber opera Solaris (to a libretto by Stanisław Lem); the opera received its première at the Munich Biennale in 1996. Since 1997 he has been professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar. [1]

From 2010 to 2013 he was a guest professor for composition at the University of Music and performing Arts in Vienna.

In works such as Solaris, Obst adopts a modernist sensibility while at the same time questioning its underlying philosophy. [2]

Selected World Premières and Important Performances

Discography

Television Productions

Compositions

Stage works

World PremièreTitleDescriptionLibretto and source
SolarisChamber opera in 3 parts with an overture and an intermezzo, 90'the composer, after the novel by Stanislaw Lem
CarolineOpera in two parts Ralph Günther Mohnnau after the life of Caroline Schelling
Opera Hermann Schneider, after the novel The Other Side by Alfred Kubin
21 May 2022 Landestheater Linz (Austria)Under the GlacierOpera in three parts, a prologue and an epilogue Hermann Schneider, after the novel Kristnihald under Jökli by Halldór Laxness

Other works

  • 1980/81 Metal Drop Music, quadraphonic electronic music
  • 1980/83 Piano Piece no. 3 for piano solo
  • 1981 Resonanzen 1 for violoncello solo
  • 1981/88 Traumlandschaften for 2 pianos
  • 1981/82 Inside, quadrophonic electronic music
  • 1982 YE-NA-JE stereophonic electronic music
  • 1983 Visioni di Medea, quadrophonic electronic music
  • 1983–85 Crystal World I, quadrophonic electronic music
  • 1984 Crystal World II (Chorale), quadrophonic electronic music
  • 1985/86 Crystal World III, quadrophonic electronic music
  • 1985/86 Crystal World III for ensemble and tape
  • 1987 Chansons for mezzo-soprano, 5 instruments, live-electronics, and tape
  • 1987 Ende Gut, quadrophonic electronic music
  • 1989 Poèmes for percussion solo and tape
  • 1989 Miroirs for 6 vocalists
  • 1990 Dr. Mabuse Der Spieler Part I: Der große Spieler for ensemble and live-electronics (film music for the restored complete version of the silent film "Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler" by Fritz Lang)
  • 1990–92 Poèmes, "d'après des images en blanc et noir" for orchestra
  • 1990 Nachtstücke for 7 instruments and live-electronics
  • 1991 Fresko for 5 instruments
  • 1991 Nuances for flute and percussion
  • 1992–93 Dr. Mabuse Der Spieler Part II: Inferno for ensemble and live-electronics (film music for the restored complete version of the silent film "Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler" by Fritz Lang)
  • 1993–94 Diaphonia for soloists, orchestra and live-electronics
  • 1994 Fábrica I, stereophonic electronic music
  • 1995 Fábrica II for 4 percussionists and tape
  • 1996 Journey's End, quadrophonic electronic music
  • 1997 Shadow (...of a Doubt), for percussion and ensemble
  • 1998 Traces for oboe solo
  • 1998 Suite for bass clarinet, accordion and double bass
  • 1998 Octet for Winds
  • 1998/99 Piano Piece no. 5 for piano solo
  • 1998/99 Reflections for accordion solo
  • 2000 The Wind for violin, French horn and tape
  • 2000 Images for violin solo
  • 2000 Six Sketches for French horn solo
  • 2001 Piano Trio no. 1
  • 2001 Transit, for orchestra
  • 2002 Nosferatu, (music for the classic silent film by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau)
  • 2003/04 Espaces Sonores, 8-track electronic music
  • 2004–05 Espaces sonores, for wind quintet and orchestra
  • 2006 Arcus for string quartet and electronic music
  • 2006 Piano Trio no. 2
  • 2009 Trois Rêves for ensemble
  • 2009 Four Little Pieces for B-flat clarinet
  • 2013 Die Befristeten, concertante radio play for speakers and ensemble after the theatre piece of the same name by Elias Canetti (text adaptation by Ursula Ruppel)
  • 2013–14 Variazioni for two trumpets and two ensembles
  • 2014 Te Deum for six-part mixed choir
  • 2016 Noctuelles for 11 instruments

Writings by Michael Obst (selection)

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References

  1. 1 2 Visscher, Eric de. 2001. "Obst, Michael". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
  2. Meph, Johannes. 1997. "Sight of Sound". The Musical Times 138, n. 1851 (May):44–5. p. 44.

Further reading