Johannes Maria Staud

Born in 1974 in Innsbruck (Austria), studied composition in the Musikhochschule in Vienna, where he was a pupil of Michael Jarrell (composition), Iván Eröd (harmony and counterpoint) and Dieter Kaufmann (electroacoustic music). He was one of the co-founders of the composers1 group OGegenklang1. He also studied philosophy and musicology at the Vienna University. He continued the compositional studies at the Hanns Eisler-Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, with Hanspeter Kyburz; and participated in the masterclasses led by Brian Ferneyhough.
In 2000 Staud received First Prize at the Hanns Eisler Composers1 Competition in Berlin (for Vielleicht zunächst wirklich nur). His honours also include the Austrian Special State Music Award (2001) as well as a composer1s award of the Easter Festival in Salzburg (2002). His music has been performed at prestigious festivals including: Wien Modern, Salzburger Festspiele, OPrésences1 in Paris, wdr-Musik-triennale in Cologne, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, ODocumenta1 in Kassel, Zagreb Biennale, at the Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt, as well as in Konzerthaus in Berlin, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, in Basle, Graz and Tallin.
Staud1s works are in the repertoire of such renowned ensembles as the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern Frank-furt, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble InterContemporain and wdr Choir in Cologne.
Currently J. M. Staud works on the chamber opera to a libretto by Durs Grünbein (premiere scheduled for May 2004 at the Munich Biennale) and the piece for orchestra, commissioned by Berliner Philharmoniker (premiere scheduled for 2005 under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle).

Selected works: Bewegungen for piano (1996), Die Ebene for speaker and ensemble, to a text by Hans Arp (1997), Dichotomie for string quartet (1997­98), Black Moon for bass clarinet (1998), Vielleicht zunächst wirklich nur for soprano and six instruments, to texts by Max Bense (1999), der kleinste abstand zwischen zwei gegenständen for a cappella choir, to texts by Heinz Gappmayr (1999), ... gleichsam als ob... for orchestra (1999­2000), Incipit for trombone and five instruments (2000), A Map is Not the Territory for ensemble (2001), Esquisse retouchée (Incipit II) for trombone and drum (2001­02), Polygon, music for piano and orchestra (2002), Configurations/Reflet for eight players (2002).

Configurations/Reflet consists of several clearly separated sections of various lengths. Two instrumental groups ­ three wind instruments and horn on the one hand and four strings on the other ­ are placed radially around an (invisible) axis. They are supported by two hi-hats and two big drums which are activated by four performers solely by means of a pedal. The clash of an almost unmodified low-tech layer with the layer of wind instruments and strings, with their great potential for timbral change, was a highly interesting challenge for me.
I ruled out at the start any attempt to Obuild bridges1 between the contrasting timbres, be it by the tremolo of the cymbals, or by the use of mallet instruments. There is no tam-tam, with its impression of depth, nor the triangle with its bright sound. The entire musical event is shaped exclusively by two Obare1 sound sources, which are modified solely by dynamics. At the same time they trigger various chain reactions.
The piece had its first performance on 22 October 2002 in Berlin, The Sharoun Ensemble was conducted by Henrik Schaefer.
Johannes Maria Staud