Søren Nils Eichberg (born 23 July 1973) is a German/Danish classical composer and conductor.

Biography

Eichberg was born in Stuttgart, Germany. He studied piano, composition and orchestra conducting in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He had his first break-through in 2001 when winning the

Queen Elisabeth Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition ( nl, Koningin Elisabethwedstrijd, french: Concours musical international Reine Élisabeth) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in Brussels. The competition is named after Queen ...

for Composers in Brussels in 2001. Other awards and honours include the

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...

fellowship, the German Konrad-Adenauer Composition Grant and the Composition Stipend of the

Danish Arts Foundation The Danish Arts Foundation (Danish: Statens Kunstfond) is the principal Danish government funded arts foundation founded by a special Law on 27 May 1964. Statens Kunstfond alongside the :da:Statens Kunstråd (English sometimes State Arts Council n ...

. In 2010 he was announced as the first composer-in-residence of the

Danish National Symphony Orchestra The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Danish: ''DR Symfoniorkestret''; English abbreviation "DNSO"), is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The DNSO is the principal orchestra of DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). The DRSO is based at th ...

in the orchestra's history, which led to a close collaboration with the orchestra over a period of five years and to premieres and recordings of several large-scale works. His symphonic work was in 2017 shortlisted for the German Music Authors' Prize. Hilary Hahn recorded his composition ''Levitation'' for her Deutsche Grammophon album ''In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores'', which was awarded a

Grammy Award 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 pres ...

in 2014. His works include three symphonies, concertos, three operas and solo- and chamber music and are published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

and Edition Wilhelm Hansen (MusicSales). He collaborates with Ensemble Modern, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and several radio orchestras across Europe. As a conductor he has worked with Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Hofer Symphoniker, Preussisches Kammerorchester, Berliner Symphoniker, Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik and members of the Munich and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. As a guest lecturer he has been invited by Guildhall School of Music and Drama,

Yaşar University Yaşar University ( Turkish: ''Yaşar Üniversitesi'') is a university in İzmir, Turkey on the Aegean Sea. The university faculty teaches in English, with programs at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. History Selcuk Yaşar Sport ...

and hdpk Berlin.

''Glare''

Eichberg's chamber opera ''Glare'', with libretto by Hannah Dübgen, was commissioned by

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

and opened in London in November 2014. ''Glare'' is a psycho-drama chamber-play with elements of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

, which focuses on the relationships between four protagonists one of who may or may not be an artificial human. It gained attention among

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

gers, twitterers and the press with some calling it unnecessary violent or even misogynist, while others praised it as the perfect opera for the digital age. Richard Morrison in his review in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' gave it 5 out of 5 stars saying that he couldn't remember a more gripping 75 minutes of avant-garde music-theatre than ''Glare''. The opera has since been staged in Koblenz and Riksteatern. Eichberg's follow-up opera about the European refugee crisis premiered at

Staatstheater Wiesbaden The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden ('Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden') is a German theatre located in Wiesbaden, in the German state Hesse. The company produces operas, plays, ballets, musicals and concerts on four stages. Known also as the ...

in September 2017.

References

External links

Eichberg's web-site

Søren Nils Eichberg
biography and works on the UE website (publisher)
Søren Nils Eichberg
biography and works on the Music Sales Classical website (publisher) 1973 births Living people 21st-century classical composers Danish classical composers German male classical composers German classical composers Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 21st-century German composers 21st-century German male musicians {{Germany-composer-stub