Shih (born 29 November 1950 in Taipei, Taiwan) is a naturalized Austrian composer. Shih has been living and working in Vienna since 1974. In Europe Shih forgoes his full Chinese name due to experience with incorrect writing and pronunciation. [1] However, in Taiwan he is still known by his full name Shih Chieh (Chinese 施 捷). [2]
Shih studied composition and harp at the Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts, graduating in 1983. He has been living and working in Vienna since 1974 as a freelance composer, teacher, and artistic director of the Pacific Youth Orchestra Vienna, founded in 2002. He has been awarded special merits for regularly presenting contemporary Austrian music in China.
His own works – chamber music, ballet, lied, orchestra works, opera and oratorio – have been performed in many European und Asian countries, as well as in the United States, and regularly appear both on TV and radio (ORF, ARD, MDR, RAI etc.). Shih's international breakthrough came with his opera „Vatermord“ ("Death of a Father"), first performed in Dresden in 1994 and followed by performances at Leipzig Oper and in Nuremberg, Erlangen, Vienna and Berlin.
Further important steps include the oratorio, „Lebend’ges Land“, in Münster; the music-installation, "Prayer", in Taiwan (on the occasion of the centennial of the Republic of China); and the open-ended cycle, „Ein Takt für...“ ("A Measure for..."), which established Shih's individual style of transforming psychical processes into music for all existing instruments, either in solo performance or in combination with others.
The music critic Dr. Christian Baier has described Shih's intentions as the "search for form as well as formal scepticism, richness of expression as well as absolute restraint and austerity. His music allows the performer rich space for free interpretation".
Shih himself explains: "My music is not traditional, but conscious of tradition. As a composer, I am part of a long tradition, and I have to deal with this tradition. Of course I can turn my back, say farewell to tradition and live wholly for the experiment. But in doing so, one soon becomes lonely – not only as a human being, but also as an artist. It is necessary to be conscious of one’s cultural-historical past to arrive at an artistic, i.e. individual present."
Isang Yun, also spelled Yun I-sang, was a Korean-born composer who made his later career in West Germany.
Mario Davidovsky was an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the United States, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He is best known for his series of compositions called Synchronisms, which in live performance incorporate both acoustic instruments and electroacoustic sounds played from a tape.
Josef Páleníček was a Czech piano virtuoso and composer.
Haukur Tómasson is an Icelandic composer. He has a Master's degree from the University of California, San Diego. He has also attended the Reykjavík College of Music, the Cologne University for Music and the Sweelinck Conservatory of Amsterdam. See also haukurtomasson.com
Beat Furrer is a Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor. He has served as professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz since 1991. He won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2018.
Ko Fan-long is a Taiwanese composer. He is a professor of composition at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei.
Krzysztof Meyer is a Polish composer, pianist and music scholar, formerly Dean of the Department of Music Theory (1972–1975) at the State College of Music, and president of the Union of Polish Composers (1985–1989). Meyer served as professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne from 1987 to 2008, prior to his retirement.
Lior Navok is an Israeli classical composer, conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv. His music has been performed internationally by orchestras and ensembles including the Oper Frankfurt, Nuernberg Opera, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra. Amongst the awards he has received are those from the Israel Cultural Excellence Foundation and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He has also received awards from the Fromm Music Foundation, Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award, and Israel Prime Minister Award. In 2004, he was one of seven composers awarded commissions for new musical works by the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation.
Lu Yen was a Chinese-born Taiwanese composer.
Rebecca Saunders is a London-born composer who lives and works freelance in Berlin. In a 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, the number of total votes received by Saunders compositions was the third highest (30), surpassed only by the works of Georg Friedrich Haas (49) and Simon Steen-Andersen (35).
Joseph Castaldo was an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music.
Ioseb Bardanashvili is an Israeli and Georgian composer. His works span classical to contemporary composition for film.
Julia Gomelskaya was a Ukrainian composer of contemporary classical music.
Wang Ying is a Chinese composer.
Mo Fan is a Chinese composer. During the Cultural Revolution he was sent to Heilongjiang, where he taught himself composition. In 1979 he entered Shanghai Conservatory.
YANG Jing is a composer and pipa soloist of Chinese origin. Between 1997 – 2009 she was often in Japan. She lives in Switzerland since 2001. Her composition premiere recording: Der Grosse Wagen (瀚空七星) by 'First European Chinese Ensemble'; A Traveller's Chant (' by 'Calmus Ensemble'
Malika Kishino is a Japanese composer based in Cologne / Germany.
Chris Hung is a Hong Kong composer and teacher.
