Otto Matthäus Zykan (29 April 1935, Vienna – 25 May 2006, Sachsendorf, Burgschleinitz-Kühnring) was an Austrian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and pianist. He studied at the

Vienna Music Academy The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

, where his teachers included Karl Schiske (composition),

Bruno Seidlhofer Bruno Georg Seidlhofer (5 September 1905 – 19 February 1982) was an Austrian pianist, organist, academic teacher and piano teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Life Born in Vienna, Seidlhofer taught piano at the Aca ...

and Josef Dichler (piano). He also attended the Darmstadt summer courses (1958, 1964–1966), winning the Kranichstein Music Prize of the international piano competition on his first visit. Zykan's most characteristic works are his ‘total art productions’, in which processes of permutation extend to movement, sounds and linguistic elements alike, sometimes producing compromise and sometimes distortion, and often reducing critical comment to the absurd. As his creative work has been conceived entirely in relation to the present, a number of his works exist only in a sketch-like draft form. He has mostly dispensed with publication, since the majority of his works depend on his personal interpretation. As a result, a number of compositions have been lost. He has also created TV advertisements for well-known firms. Among his works are three

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s, 1966's ''Singers Nähmaschine ist die beste'', 1980's ''Kunst kommt von Gönnen'' and ''Auszählreim'' of 1986.

References

OperaGlass page (cached)
1935 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Austrian composers 20th-century Austrian male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century pianists Austrian classical composers Austrian opera composers Male opera composers Austrian pianists Musicians from Vienna Austrian male classical composers Male pianists 21st-century Austrian musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century pianists 21st-century male musicians {{Austria-composer-stub