Heiner Goebbels (born 17 August 1952) is a German composer, conductor and professor at

Justus-Liebig-University University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts

Ruhrtriennale The Ruhrtriennale (compound of ''Ruhr'' and ''triennale'' "lasting 3 years"), also known as Ruhr Triennale, was founded in 2002 and is a music and arts festival in the Ruhr-area of Germany which runs between mid-August and mid-October, and happens ...

2012–14. His composition ''Stifters Dinge'' (2007) received five votes in a 2017 ''Classic Voice'' poll of the greatest works of

art music Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJacques Siron, ...

since 2000, and writers for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' ranked his composition ''Hashirigaki'' (2000) the ninth greatest classical composition of the same period.

Biography

Goebbels was born in

Neustadt an der Weinstraße Neustadt an der Weinstraße (, formerly known as ; lb, Neustadt op der Wäistrooss ; pfl, Naischdadt) is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,300 inhabitants , it is the largest town called ''Neustadt''. Geography Location T ...

. He studied sociology and music in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

,Program for Pacific Musicworks / Seattle Chamber Players performance of Heiner Goebbels ''Songs of Wars I Have Seen'', On the Boards, Seattle, 4–6 March 2010. and has composed for ensemble and for large orchestra. He has created several prize-winning radio plays, staged concerts, and, since the early 1990s,

music theatre Music theatre is a performance genre that emerged over the course of the 20th century, in opposition to more conventional genres like opera and musical theatre. The term came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to describe an avant-garde approach ...

works, which have been invited to the most important theatre and music festivals worldwide. Goebbels and

Alfred Harth Alfred Harth, now known as Alfred 23 Harth or A23H, is a German multimedia artist, band leader, multi-instrumentalist musician, and composer who creatively mixes genres. Career Harth founded a free improvisation band, Just Music (1967 to 1972) ...

were musical partners in the

Duo Goebbels/Harth The Duo Goebbels/Harth (1975–1988), combining German composer, music-theatre director and keyboardist Heiner Goebbels and German composer, multi-media artist and saxophonist Alfred 23 Harth became famous for its adaptation of and departure fro ...

(1975–1988) who co-founded the wind band Sogenanntes Linksradikales Blasorchester (1976–1981) and the

avant-rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

Cassiber Cassiber were a German avant-rock group founded in 1982 by German composer and saxophonist Alfred Harth, German composer, music-theatre director and keyboardist Heiner Goebbels, English drummer Chris Cutler from Henry Cow and German guitarist ...

(1982–1992) with

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, Ne ...

and Christoph Anders. They toured extensively across Europe, Asia and North America, and made five albums. In October 1983 Cassiber (minus Anders) joined

Duck and Cover "Duck and cover" is a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear explosion. Ducking and covering is useful in offering a degree of protection to personnel located outside the radius of the nuclear fireball but still within su ...

, commissioned for the 1983

Moers Festival The Moers Festival is an annual international music festival in Moers, Germany. The festival has changed from concentrating on free jazz to including world and pop music, though it still invites many avant-garde jazz musicians. Performers at Moers ...

at the request of festival director Burkhard Hennen to Alfred Harth, followed by a performance at the

Berlin Jazz Festival JazzFest Berlin (also known as the Berlin Jazz Festival) is a jazz festival in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" (''Berlin Jazz Days''), it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. Venues included B ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, and by another in February 1984 in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

. Some of his better-known work originated from his close collaboration with the

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

writer

Heiner Müller Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postdr ...

, resulting in stage compositions as well as shorter pieces (concerts as well as audio plays) based on Müller texts, such as ''Verkommenes Ufer'' (Waste Shore, 1984), ''Die Befreiung des Prometheus'' (The Liberation of Prometheus, 1985), or ''Wolokolamsker Chaussee'' (Volokolamsk Highway, 1989). Goebbels' attempts to fill the space between theatre and opera left blank due to traditional genre borderline drawing has led to projects such as "''Ou bien le débarquement désastreux''" (Paris 1993), ''Schwarz auf Weiss'' (Black on White, 1996) and ''Die Wiederholung'' (The Repetition, 1995). The political nature of his work is often referred to by critics. His interest in Heiner Müller can partly be explained by the political character of Müller's texts, as may be the case with his interest in

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

and

Hanns Eisler Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...

, works by the latter he used in composing his staged concert ''Eislermaterial'' (1998). 1998 he also created the music theatre play "Max Black" with words by

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...

and others, in 2000 "Hashirigaki" after

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...

, 2002 his first opera "Landscape with distant relatives", 2004 the prize winning "Eraritjaritjaka" with words by

Elias Canetti Elias Canetti (; bg, Елиас Канети; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994) was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her t ...

, followed 2007 by the performative installation "Stifters Dinge" which has been performed more than 300 times in four continents. 2007 followed the staged concert "Songs of Wars I have seen" with words by

– a commission by the

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...

and the

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera Artistic Associate at Kings Place, and h ...

, 2008 "I went to the House but did not enter" with the

Hilliard Ensemble The Hilliard Ensemble was a British male vocal quartet originally devoted to the performance of early music. The group was named after the Elizabethan miniaturist painter Nicholas Hilliard. Founded in 1974, the group disbanded in 2014. Although ...

and words by

Maurice Blanchot Maurice Blanchot (; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on post- ...

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

a.o. In 2012 he created "When the Mountain changed its clothing" with the Choir Carmina Slovenica, and staged

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

's "Europeras 1&2" 2012 and

Harry Partch Harry Partch (June 24, 1901 – September 3, 1974) was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of unique musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century com ...

's ''

Delusion of the Fury ''Delusion of the Fury'' is a stage play by the American composer Harry Partch that is based on a Japanese Noh drama. History The first draft for singers, mimes, dancers, and musicians was called ''Cry from Another Darkness''; Partch completed i ...

'' 2013 and

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

De Materie ''De Materie'' (''Matter'') is a four-part vocal and orchestral work by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, written over the period 1984 to 1988.Arnold Whittall, "CD Reviews: Material Issues" (June 1997). ''The Musical Times'', 138 (1852): pp. 38–3 ...

for the

International Festival of the Arts. Goebbels' work is being increasingly acknowledged as he is being played and staged around the world and as his recordings are being published. He collaborated with the finest ensembles and orchestras –

Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries. Hi ...

Ensemble InterContemporain The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music. Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world. Organi ...

, Ensemble

musikFabrik The Ensemble Musikfabrik (music factory ensemble) is an ensemble for contemporary classical music located in Cologne. Their official name is Ensemble Musikfabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. (Ensemble Musikfabrik of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

Asko/Schönberg AskoSchönberg is a Dutch chamber orchestra that specialises in contemporary classical music, especially that of the 21st century. It was formed by a merger of the ''Asko Ensemble'' and the ''Schönberg Ensemble'' in 2009. Asko Ensemble Form ...

Berg Orchestra Berg Orchestra (in Czech, Orchestr Berg), initially formed as a group of like-minded music students in 1995 and officially founded in 2001 by Slovak conductor Peter Vrábel,Stein, M."Sound of the cutting edge" ''Česká pozice'', May 9, 2011. is ...

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

Bochumer Symphoniker The Bochumer Symphoniker is a German orchestra based in Bochum. Its primary residence is the Anneliese Brost Musikforum Ruhr. History The orchestra was founded in 1918 originally as the Städtisches Orchester Bochum , at the same time as the B ...

Junge Deutsche Philharmonie The Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (''Young German Philharmonic'', JDPh) is one of the national youth orchestras of Germany. Unlike the Bundesjugendorchester, which is composed of pre-university students aged 14–19, the Junge Deutsche Philharmon ...

Brooklyn Philharmonic There have been several organisations referred to as the Brooklyn Philharmonic. The most recent one was the now-defunct Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in existence fr ...

and many others and worked with conductors like Sir

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and Colog ...

Lothar Zagrosek Lothar Zagrosek (born 13 November 1942 in Otting, Germany) is a German conductor. As a youth, he sang in the Regensburg Cathedral choir, including performances as the First Boy in ''The Magic Flute'' at the 1954 Salzburg Festival. From 1962 to ...

Peter Rundel Peter Rundel (born 1958 in Friedrichshafen), is a German violinist and conductor. A recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque in 1998 for his recording of Jean Barraqué's complete works, he became conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flan ...

Steven Sloane Steven Sloane (born 1958) is an Israeli-American conductor. Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Sloane developed an interest in conducting at age 16. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in music. Se ...

and many others. In 2000 he collaborated with

Piano Circus Piano Circus is a musical ensemble consisting of six pianists. The original six-piano ensemble formed in 1989 to perform Steve Reich's ''Six Pianos''. Founding members included Kirsteen Davidson-Kelly, Richard Harris, Kate Heath, Max Richter, ...

and composer

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

to produce ''Scutigeras'', which received a live BBC radio premiere in the UK. His ''Surrogate Cities'', a work for big orchestra dating from 1994 and featuring texts from

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...

, Heiner Müller, and Hugo Hamilton, has been performed widely in Europe, the US and Australia and was nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

in the category

Best Classical Contemporary Composition The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to composers for quality works of contemporary classical ...

at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001. His ''Eislermaterial'' won him another Grammy nomination at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2004, this time in the category Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without conductor). His installative artwork "Stifters Dinge – the Unguided Tour" has been presented by

Artangel Artangel is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1985 by Roger Took. Directed since 1991 by James Lingwood and Michael Morris, it has commissioned and produced a string of notable site-specific works, plus several projects for TV, film, r ...

in London (2012) and at the

in Duisburg (2013), "Genko-An" in Berlin (2008),

Darmstadt Artists' Colony The Darmstadt Artists’ Colony refers both to a group of Jugendstil artists as well as to the buildings in Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt in which these artists lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The artists were largely fi ...

/Mathildenhöhe (2012),

Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon The Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon is a museum devoted to contemporary art, located in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon, in the Cité Internationale, next to the cinema, in front of the Parc de la Tête d'Or. It had over 42,000 visitors in 2007. ...

(2014) and Moscow's NEW SPACE (2017). For the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

Paris he created the soundinstallations "Fin de Soleil" and "Timée"(2000) which was also exhibited at the

ZKM The ZKM , Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (until March 2016: ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology), a cultural institution, was founded in 1989. and since 1997 is located in a listed industrial building in Karlsruhe, Germany, a former muni ...

Karlsruhe, the MACBA Barcelona, in Brugge and in Palazzo delle Esposizioni/Rome. He also closely collaborated on several videoinstallations with visual artist

Michal Rovner Michal Rovner ( he, מיכל רובנר; born 1957), also known as Michal Rovner Hammer, is an Israeli contemporary artist, she is known for her video, photo, and cinema artwork. Rovner is internationally known with exhibitions at major museums, ...

. 1982, 1987 and 1997 he participated with concerts, installative works and performing arts at the

documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

in Kassel Goebbels was a professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen, Institute for Applied Theater Studies from 1999 until 2018, and teaches the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. From 2006 until 2018 he was President of the Theater Academy of Hesse. In recent years Goebbels enjoyed the privilege of several guest professorships and nominations for composer-in-residence., he is member of several academies of arts (Berlin, Bensheim, Düsseldorf, Mainz, Munich), Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Berlin, Honorable Fellow at the Dartington College of the Arts and the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

, London. In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by

Birmingham City University Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 and gai ...

, in 2018 by the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia (Bulgaria). He received numerous awards and honours, such as

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the ...

, Europe Prize Theatrical Realities, and in 2012 the

International Ibsen Award The International Ibsen Award (Norwegian: ''Den internasjonale Ibsenprisen'') honours an individual, institution or organization that has brought new artistic dimensions to the world of drama or theater. The committee consists of figures in the the ...

, one of the world's most prestigious theatre awards, for bringing "new artistic dimensions to the world of drama or theatre.". In September 2010, it was announced that Goebbels was the artistic director designate for the 2012–14 seasons of the

. As artistic director of this Festival Heiner Goebbels curated, produced and presented several new works by the artists Robert Wilson,

Romeo Castellucci Romeo Castellucci (born August 4, 1960) is an Italian theatre director, playwright, artist and designer. Since the 1980s he has been one part of the European theatrical avant-garde. Biography Romeo Castellucci graduated with a degree in paintin ...

Boris Charmatz Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name *:''See'': List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) * Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his ...

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

, Jan Lauwers,

Ryoji Ikeda Ryoji Ikeda (池田亮司 ''Ikeda Ryōji'', born 1966) is a Japanese visual and sound artist who currently lives and works in Paris, France. Ikeda's music is concerned primarily with sound in a variety of "raw" states, such as sine tones and noi ...

Douglas Gordon Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Work Much of Gordon's w ...

, William Forsythe,

Lemi Ponifasio Salā Lemi Ponifasio (born in Lano Samoa), is globally renowned for his progressive application to theatre, politicking, and engagement with indigenous, Māori and Pacific peoples. He was the Arts Foundation Laureate in 2011, and was the recipi ...

Mathilde Monnier Mathilde Monnier (born 1959 in Mulhouse) is a French choreographer. She directs the '' Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon'' in Montpellier. She collaborates with notable artists throughout various disciplines ...

Saburo Teshigawara is a Japanese choreographer and dancer who was born in Tokyo and became known for founding a company named KARAS along with Kei Miyata in 1985. On September 12, 2013, he performed ''Mirror and Music'' at the Kennedy Center which was highly prais ...

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker Anne Teresa, Baroness De Keersmaeker (, born 1960 in Mechelen, Belgium, grew up in Wemmel) is a contemporary dance choreographer. The dance company constructed around her, , was in residence at La Monnaie in Brussels from 1992 to 2007. Biography ...

Rimini Protokoll Rimini Protokoll is a German theatre group founded in 2000 by Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, and Daniel Wetzel. They create stage plays, interventions, scenic installations, and radio plays. Many of their works are characterized by interactivity a ...

Tim Etchells Tim Etchells (born 1962) is an English artist and writer based in Sheffield and London. Etchells is the artistic director of Forced Entertainment, an experimental performance company founded in 1984. He has published several works of fiction, ...

Gregor Schneider Gregor Schneider (born 1969 in Rheydt) is a German artist. His projects have proven controversial and provoked intense discussions. In 2001, he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for his infamous work ''Totes Haus u r'' exhibited ...

and many others. His latest work, ''Everything that happened and would happen'', was performed for the first time in October 2018 at Mayfield Depot in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. It explores the history of Europe since World War I and combines live music, performance and film.

Europe Theatre Prize

In 2001, he was awarded the Europe Prize Theatrical Realities, in

Taormina Taormina ( , , also , ; scn, Taurmina) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on ...

, with the following motivation:

Beginning in the mid-80s, Heiner Goebbels has managed to reinvent musical theatre. Composer, director, musical arranger and playwright all wrapped up into one, Goebbels has worked with actors, singers, musicians, writers, artists and set designers from all over the world. His ''Konzeptionelles Komponieren'', constructed using
Heiner Muller __NOTOC__ Heiner is a German male name, a diminutive of Heinrich, and also a surname. Given name *Heiner Backhaus (born 1982), professional footballer *Heiner Baltes (born 1949), former football defender *Heiner Brand (born 1952), former West Ge ...
's dialectic,
Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...
's audacious linguistic constructions, pop music and philosophical tracts, allow the spectator to see the music, hear the space and experience the text with polished simplicity. Acoustic and visual elements are not merely juxtaposed in their on-stage associations but linked together by a multiplicity of inter-relationships. To accomplish this, the divining rod of a sense of humor serves as a necessary tool in his search for their very essence. Goebbels is one of the most important representatives of international music and avant-garde theatre, with an evocative aesthetic that is simultaneously unmistakable and inexhaustible.

Works (selection)

Stage works

* ''When the Mountain Changed Its Clothing'' (2012) Music theatre for a girl's choir. Text: Jean Jacques Rousseau, Gertrude Stein, Adalbert Stifter, Alain Robbe-Grillet and others * ''I went to the house but did not enter'' (2008) Scenic concert in three pictures for four male voices. Text: T.S. Eliot, Maurice Blanchot, Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka. First performed at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

2008 by the

. * ''Stifters Dinge'' (2007) Installative Performance * ''Eraritjaritjaka – musée de Phrases'' (2007) music theatre for actor and string quartett, words by Elias Canetti * ''Landschaft mit entfernten Verwandten'' (2002) Opera for ensemble, choir and soloists. Texts and motifs by Giordano Bruno, Arthur Chapman/Estelle Philleo, T.S. Eliot, Francois Fénelon, Michel Foucault and others * ''Hashirigaki'' (2000) music theatre with words by Getrude Stein * ''...meme soir'' (2000) music theatre * ''Eislermaterial'' (1998) staged concert for Ensemble with music by Hanns Eisler * ''Max Black'' (1998) music theatre with words by Georg Christooh Lichtenberg, Paul Valery, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Max Black * ''Schwarz auf Weiss'' (1996) Music theatre for eighteen musicians. Text: Edgar Allan Poe, John Webster, T.S. Eliot, Maurice Blanchot * ''Die Wiederholung / La Reprise / The Repetition'' (1995) music theatre with words by Sören Kierkegaard, Alain Robbe-Grillet and Prince * ''Ou bien le débarquement désastreux'' (1993) music theatre with words by Joseph Conrad, Heiner Müller and Francis Ponge

Orchestra works

* ''Ou bien Sunyatta'' (2004) for kora, voice and orchestra * ''Notiz einer Fanfare'' (2003) for big orchestra * ''Aus einem Tagebuch'' (2002/03) Short diary entries for orchestra * ''Walden'' (1998) for extended orchestra and speaker. Text: H. D. Thoreau * ''Industry and Idleness'' (1998) for orchestra * ''Surrogate Cities'' (1993/94) for mezzo-soprano, voice, sampler and big orchestra. Text: Heiner Müller, Hugo Hamilton, Paul Auster

Ensemble works

* ''Songs of Wars I Have Seen'' (2007) staged concert for Ensemble with words by Gertrude Stein * ''Schlachtenbeschreibung'' (2002) for bariton and ensemble with words by Leonardo da Vinci * ''Samplersuite from Surrogate Cities'' (1994) for ensemble * ''Herakles 2'' (1992) for five brass players, drums and sampler * ''La Jalousie'' (1991) Noises from a novel for speaker and ensemble. Text: Alain Robbe-Grillet * ''SHADOW / Landscape with Argonauts'' (1990) with words by Edgar Allan Poe and Heiner Müller * ''Befreiung (Liberation)'' (1989) Text:

Rainald Goetz Rainald Maria Goetz (born 24 May 1954, in Munich) is a German author, playwright and essayist. Biography After studying History and Medicine in Munich and earning a degree (PhD and M.D) in each, he soon concentrated on his writing. His first p ...

* ''Red Run'' (1988/91) Nine Songs for Eleven Instruments * ''Der Mann im Fahrstuhl/The Man in the Elevator'' (1988) with author Heiner Müller

Chamber music

* ''The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock'' (T.S.Eliot), "The Excursion into the Mountains" (Franz Kafla), "Worstward Ho"(Samuel Beckett) (2008) for four voices * ''Bagatellen'' (1986–2006) for violin and sampler and clarinet ad lib. * ''And We Said Good Bye'' (2002) from ''Landschaft mit entfernten Verwandten'' for flute, clarinet and playback-CD * ''Harrypatari'' (1995/96) from ''Schwarz auf Weiß'' for zither, marimba, cimbalom, clavichord and e-bass * ''In the Basement'' (1995/96) for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and electronic feed * ''Toccata for Tea pot and Piccolo'' (1995/96) from ''Schwarz auf Weiß'' for Piccolo and tea pot

Installative works

* ''Maelstromsüdpol'' site specific installation with Heiner Müller, Erich Wonder 1987 (documenta Kassel), 1988 (ars electronica Linz and Berlin) * ''Timée'' 2000 soundinstallation with words by Plato * ''Fin du Soleil''2000 soundinstallation * ''Genko An'' 2008 (Berlin), 2012 (Darmstadt), 2014 (Lyon), 2017 (Moscow) site specific visual and sound-installation * ''Stifters Dinge – The Unguided Tour'' 2012

Notes

External links

Heiner Goebbels siteHeiner Goebbels Faculty Page
at

European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, Pao ...

. (Biography, bibliography and video lectures)
Interview (1997)Publisher's website: Heiner Goebbels's biography and worklist at RicordiHeiner Goebbels on ECM Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goebbels, Heiner 1952 births Living people German classical composers European Graduate School faculty 20th-century classical composers ECM Records artists People from Neustadt an der Weinstraße Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin German male classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians