Beat Furrer

(Austria, 1954)

Beat Furrer was born in Schaffhausen (Switzerland) in 1954 and received his first musical training on piano at the Music School there. After moving to Vienna in 1975, he studied conducting with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock Ramati at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. In 1985 he founded the Klangforum Wien, which he directed until 1992, and with which he is still associated as conductor. Commissioned by the Vienna State Opera, he composed his first opera Die Blinden. His second opera Narcissus was premiered in 1994 as part of the Festival “steirischer herbst” at the Graz Opera. In 1996 he was composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival. His music theatre work Begehren was premiered in Graz in 2001, the opera invocation in Zürich in 2003 and the sound theatre piece FAMA in Donaueschingen in 2005. In autumn 1991 Furrer became a full professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz. He has been guest professor in composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt 2006–2009. Together with violinist Ernst Kovacic he founded "impuls", a International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music.

In 2004 he was awarded the Music Prize of the City of Vienna, and in 2005 became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. He was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2006 for his work FAMA. In 2010 his music theatre Wüstenbuch was premiered in Basel. In 2014 he was awarded with Great Austrian State Prize. In 2018 he received the Ernst-von-Siemens music prize in recognition of his lifetime's compositional outoput. His latest opera La Bianca Notte based on texts by Dino Campana, was premiered in Hamburg in spring 2015. In January 2019 his new opera Violetter Schnee (Violet Snow) with a libretto by Händl Klaus based on a libretto by Vladimir Sorokin premiered at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. Since the 1980s Beat Furrer has composed a wide range of works, from solo and ensemble music to orchestral and choral works and opera. He is well know for his nuanced exploration of the human voice and its relationship to instrumental sound. 

More on https://www.beatfurrer.com/

Stefano Gervasoni

(Italy, 1962)

With commissions from prestigious institutions such as the WDR, the SWR, the Orchestra Nazionale della RAI, the Münchner Kammerorchester, the Festival d'Automne in Paris, Radio France, IRCAM, the Casa da Musica in Porto, the Festival Archipel in Geneva, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Ensemble Modern, the Maerzmusik festival in Berlin, the Ars Musica Bruxelles, the Festival Musica in Strasbourg, Milan Teatro alla Scala and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Italian composer Stefano Gervasoni has established himself as one of the most important composers of his generation.

Winner of numerous prizes, including the recent "Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation Award" (2018) and Premio della Critica Musicale "Franco Abbiati" (2010), since 2006 Stefano Gervasoni has held a regular teaching position as professor of composition at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, and has also been invited to teach at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, on the courses organised by the Fondation Royaumont (Paris), at Toho University in Tokyo, at the Festival International de Campos do Jordão in Brazil, at the Conservatory in Shanghai, at Columbia University (New York), at Harvard University (Boston) and at Takefu International Music Festival. He has been composer-in-residence at Lausanne Conservatoire (2005) and at Yellow Barn Summer Academy (Vermont, 2016).

More on https://www.stefanogervasoni.net

Ondřej Adámek

(CZECHIA, 1979)

Ondřej Adámek was born in 1979 in Prague. He has received commissions for orchestral, choir, ensemble, and vocal works, as well as music for instruments and electronics from prestigious ensembles, orchestras and festivals of contemporary music in Europe, such as Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra with Mezzo-Soprano Magdalena Kozena, Isabelle Faust and Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunk, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Diotima string quartet, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, Agora festival, Donaueschingen festival, Witten festival, Warsaw Automn, Les Musiques festival – Marseille.

Adámek seeks out special playing techniques for classical instruments, creates new original instruments, with his vast knowledge of new possibilities for classical instruments, obtains a very specific sound colour that, together with a powerful rhythmic and solid formal architecture, creates very personal music with strong dramatic aspect.

His music was awarded the Synthèse Prize (Bourges 2002), Metamorphose (Brussels 2002, 2004), First Prize of Hungarian Radio, the Brandenburg Biennale prize (2006), the Prix Hervé-Dugardin – SACEM (2009), the Grand Prix Tansman (Lodz 2010), the Prix George Enesco 2011, and others. In 2014-2015 is Adamek fellow of Academie de France, Villa Medici in Rome.

More on https://ondrejadamek.com

Michelle Agnes Magalhaes

(Brazil, 1979)

Brazilian composer Michelle Agnes Magalhaes currently lives and works at Paris. She places a high premium on the engagement of the musician's body with her performance, as well as new approaches to traditional instruments and instrumentation. She focuses on raw materials, creating complex sounds inside forms that are geometric inspired and structured. ​Her ‘pulsating and living music’ (Anne Montaron, Radio France), of  ‘unique tone’ (Musical America), is part of numerous repertoires of international contemporary ensembles: Ensemble Intercontemporain, Talea Ensemble, Accroche Note, Ensemble Multilatérale, Abstraï, Percorso Ensemble, Quarteto Prometeo, 2e2m, Choeur en Scène, Vertixe Sonora, TaG Neue Musik, 20° dans le noir, Soundinitiative, Lovemusic, Ensemble l’Itinéraire, etc.

At age 23, she became the recipient of an artists' prize from Unesco (Ashberg Fellowship) that allowed her to travel extensively in Europe, exposing her to the many different communities of contemporary music on the continent. Since then she has been awarded fellowships, residences and commissions from Radcliffe Institute (Harvard University), UNESCO, IRCAM, Fapesp, Venice Biennale, Camargo Foundation, Villa Sträuli, Siemens Foundation, European Commission, Brazilian and French Culture Minister, Camargo foundation of Cassis, at the Sträuli Villa in Switzerland, at the French Institut in Morocco, and at the Giorgio Cini foundation of Venezia.

More on https://michelleagness.wixsite.com/michelle-agnes

Oscar Jockel

(Germany, 1995)

Composer, conductor and organist Oscar Jockel currently lives between Paris, Berlin and Bretstein, a remote mountain village in Austria. He has been announced the first composer in residence at the Brucknerhaus Linz for the season 2020/2021, composing for a wide variety of formations. In 2019 he obtained a commission from the International Stiftung Mozarteum for his opera Lob des Schattens, which has been staged in Salzburg. In 2021 Jockel became a winner of the Franco Donatoni Composition Competition in Milano. At the moment he is creating works for the Quatuor Diotima (Brucknerhaus Linz), the Ensemble Mozaïque (Konzerthaus Wien & Brucknerhaus Linz), a music theater work as well as a collaboration work with Westbam (Salzburger Osterfestspiele & Mendelssohn-Orchesterakademie des Gewandhauses Leipzig).

Oscar Jockel is also assistant conductor with the Berliner Philharmoniker for Kirill Petrenko and will be a conducting fellow of the Karajan Academy for two years receiving the “Siemens Conductors Scholarship” as a winner of the conducting competition at the Philharmonie Berlin in October 2021. In addition to assisting the chief conductor in concert and opera, the duties also include conducting his own concert projects together with the academy members of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Also in 2021, Oscar Jockel obtained a position as assistant conductor at the Philharmonie de Paris with the Ensemble intercontemporain and its director Matthias Pintscher, which he will hold for two years beginning in February 2022.

More on https://www.oscarjockel.com/

Yukiko Watanabe

(Japan, 1983)

Yukiko Watanabe has received awards and scholarships like Nomura Cultural Foundation(2008), Rohm Music Foundation(2009-2011), Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs(2013), DAAD(2014), Ö1 Talentebörse-Kompositionspreise(2001), Asian Composers Showcase 2015, Akutagawa Award for Music Composition(2016). Her music was performed in Germany, Austria, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, US, Mexico, Egypt, USA, Canada, Korea, Singapore and Japan.

She was the recipient of the International Ensemble Modern Academy Scholarship (2016/17) in Frankfurt and Kunststiftung NRW im Künstlerdorf Schöppingen 2018, in Residency for new music Goethe Institute Canada 2019. Furthermore she was selected for Composer in Residence "Rondò 2021"(Divertimento Ensemble). From 2018, She is the artistic director for her own project which aims to give support to young musicians by providing the opportunities to develop their creative skills. She is a member of several composers collectives among them Japanese Women Composers Meeting(JWCM) and Cabinet of Curiosities(COC). Currently, she lives in Nagano, Japan.

More on https://yukiko-watanabe.blogspot.com

Federico Gardella

(Italy, 1979)

Italian composer Federico Gardella’s music has featured in many important festivals and concert seasons in Tokyo (Tokyo Opera City), Milan (Festival Milano Musica), Royaumont (Voix Nouvelles), New York (Columbia University), Florence (Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), Riga (Festival Arena/Great Guild Concert Hall), Erl (Tiroler Festspiele/Festspielhaus), Turin (Rai NuovaMusica), Guanajuato (Festival Internacional Cervantino), Boston (Harvard University), Takefu (Takefu International Music Festival), Venice (La Biennale di Venezia), Lausanne (Société de Musique Contemporaine), Bruxelles (Flagey), Rome (Auditorium Parco della Musica), Ljubljana (Slovenian Philharmonic) and Madrid (Auditorio Nacional de Música).

He has won prizes in various international composition competitions including the Tansman International Competition of Musical Personalities in Lodz, and in 2009 he was assigned the Takefu International Composition Award. In 2012 he was awarded the First Prize of the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award in Tokyo and in 2014 he was assigned the Special Prize “Una Vita nella Musica – Giovani” at the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia. He teaches composition at the Milan Conservatory and is Faculty Member at the Takefu International Composition Workshop in Japan.

More on http://www.federicogardella.it/