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born in Cordoba (Argentina) in 1961, he studied
composition and conducting at the State University in La Plata. He continued
his education at the State University of New York at Buffalo, gaining a Ph.D.
in composition.
He has received numerous awards and prestigious commissions from such
institutions, ensembles and festivals as Forum ’91 Nouvel Ensemble
Moderne, De Ijsbreker, Nieuw Ensemble, Stuttgart Opera, Tage für Neue Musik
in Hanover, Europäische Musikmonat, and Ensemble InterContemporain.
He held grants from the Akademie Schloss Solitude (1995/96) and zkm
Karlsruhe (1998, 2000, 2001).
As a conductor, after an early start in the traditional orchestral
repertoire, he concentrated on new music. In 1990–93 he worked as
conductor in the Centre for Experimental Opera and Ballet (ceob) at Teatro
Colón in Buenos Aires. He has premiered over 140 works, ranging from
chamber music to opera, working with such ensembles and orchestras as the
Buffalo Chamber Ensemble, the Buffalo Philharmonic, jib Brass Ensemble, The
Instrumental Factor, New York New Music Ensemble, Kammerensemble Neue Musik
Berlin, Champ d’Action, Ensemble Resonanz, and the Basel Sinfonietta.
He has directed the Thürmchen Ensemble since 1996. He has made recordings
for Mode Records and Wergo, as well as for German Radio.
He has lectured in composition and related subjects at the Universities in
La Plata, Buffalo and Birmingham, and at the Kunitachi College of Music in
Tokyo. Presently he teaches composition and is Director of the Electronic
Music Studio at the Music Academy in Basel.
Selected works: Viviendas proprias for flute, bassoon and
two voices, El secreto de la flor de oro for two oboes, two clarinets, two
bassoons and two horns, Punto V¬lico for chamber orchestra, Aspectos for
four flautists, horn, three percussions and two voices, Aspectos II for
strings and percussion, Avatar for oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin,
viola and cello, Per Ivan Lermoliev for instrumental ensemble, Wolfgang de ménage
for clarinet, viola and piano, adagio en si menor de Mozart for instrumental
ensemble, Pet for cello, double bass and two percussions, Jodeln for two
pianists, Niger und Patriarch for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and
percussion, Lame Butterfly for instrumental ensemble, Serpiente y Junco for
flute and computer, Beware of the Dog for voice and computer, Moebius for
orchestra, Marco Polo for midi piano and computer, Galena for clarinet,
trumpet, trombone, percussion, cello, double bass and computer, Déj± vu
for horn, trombone, piano, cello, double bass and computer, Alles Nahe werde
fern for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, viola, cello and double
bass, Euler Sonaten for three cellos and computer, Ein Missverstaendnis von
Stille for twelve voices and trumpet, De la incomprensión de un silenco for
flute, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, violin and cello, Feuilles for
computer solo and three-dimensional multi-channel audio-system, Andere
Stimmen for piano (six hands), Dickinson Gedichte for mezzo-soprano and
cello.
I composed Alles Nahe werde fern in 2001 as a commission
from the Thürmchen Ensemble.
This somewhat apocryphal phrase, which may be translated as
‘everything that is close moves away’, was quoted in the text by
j. l. Borges as Goethe’s somewhat apocryphal description of the world
as we see it changing when we grow old. Borges used it to describe his
feeling of alienation resulting from progressive blindness. The composition
is a reflection of similar emotions, both as regards form and on the surface,
and they are an outcome of precise rules of construction. Crucial for the
creation of the piece were certain piano and percussion sounds, which were
treated as a centre where other instrumental sounds converge and from where
they can also be developed. The work was premiered by the Thürmchen
Ensemble in 2001 in Cologne.
Erik OEa
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