Georg Hajdu (born 21 June 1960) is a German composer of Hungarian descent. His work is dedicated to the combination of music, science and computer technology. He is noted for his opera ' and the network music performance environment Quintet.net.

Biography

Hajdu was born in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

to Hungarian parents who had fled their country in 1956. He grew up in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

where he obtained diplomas in molecular

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and musical composition from the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

and the Cologne Musikhochschule, resp. A stipend by the

German Academic Exchange Service The German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD (german: Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was founded in 1925 and is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation. Organisation ''DAAD'' is a ...

enabled him to enter the graduate program in composition at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1990, working closely with the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies ( CNMAT) and eventually obtaining a Ph.D. in 1994. His teachers include Georg Kröll,

Johannes Fritsch Johannes Georg Fritsch (27 July 1941 – 29 April 2010) was a German composer. At the age of seven, Fritsch found a violin in the attic of his uncle's house in Bensheim-Auerbach, Germany, and began lessons with a village music teacher named Kna ...

Krzysztof Meyer Krzysztof Meyer (born 11 August 1943) is a Polish composer, pianist, and music scholar, formerly Dean of the Department of Music Theory (1972–1975) at the State College of Music (now Academy of Music in Kraków), and president of the Union of P ...

, Clarence Barlow,

Andrew Imbrie Andrew Welsh Imbrie (April 6, 1921 – December 5, 2007) was an American contemporary classical music composer and pianist. Career Imbrie was born in New York City and began his musical training as a pianist when he was 4. In 1937, he went to Par ...

Jorge Liderman Jorge Mario Liderman (November 16, 1957 – February 3, 2008) was an Argentine-born American composer. He was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 to partially fund a new work for Duo46 titled Aires de Sefarad: 46 Spanish Songs for Violin and ...

and

David Wessel David Meyer Wessel (born February 21, 1954) is an American journalist and writer. He has shared two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism. He is director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution and a contributing ...

. He also audited classes with

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1996, following residencies at

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...

and the ZKM, Karlsruhe, he co-founded the Ensemble WireWorks with his wife, pianist Jennifer Hymer—a group specializing in the performance of mixed-media composition. In 1999, he produced his full-length opera ', for which author and film director

Thomas Brasch Thomas Brasch (19 February 1945 – 3 November 2001) was a German author, poet and film director. Life Born in Westow, Yorkshire, England, Thomas Brasch was the son of German Jewish Communist émigré parents. In 1947, the family returned to Ea ...

wrote the libretto. In May 2002, his interactive networked performance environment was employed in a Munich Biennale opera performance. In 2004, he instigated the development of the Bohlen–Pierce clarinet and in 2005 he co-founded the

European Bridges Ensemble The European Bridges Ensemble (EBE) was established for Internet and network music performance. Its current members are the five performers Kai Niggemann (Münster, Germany), Ádám Siska (Budapest, Hungary), Johannes Kretz (Vienna, Austria), An ...

for

networked music performance A networked music performance or network musical performance is a real-time interaction over a computer network that enables musicians in different locations to perform as if they were in the same room. These interactions can include performances, ...

. In addition to his compositions, which are characterized by a pluralistic attitude and have earned him several international prizes, the IBM-prize of the

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 ...

(1990) among them, Hajdu published articles on several topics on the borderline of music and science. His areas of interest include

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

microtonality Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—interval (music), intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Wes ...

, algorithmic, interactive and

. He has been directing a number of international projects with media centers and universities in Europe and the USA. In 2010, he was

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at Northeastern University and

artist in residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at the Goethe-Institut in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Currently, Georg Hajdu is professor of

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

and music theory at the Hamburg Hochschule of Music and Theater. He organized the Sound and Music Computing Conference and Summer School 2016. Sound and Music Computing Conference 2016 website
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Works

Compositions (selection)

* Blueprint for soprano saxophone, electric guitar, double bass, piano, percussion, electronics and video (2009) * Radio Music (adaptation of John Cage's Radio Music for network ensemble008) * Beyond the Horizon for 2 Bohlen–Pierce clarinets and synthesizer (2008) * Ivresse '84 for violin and laptop quartet (2007) * Corpus Callosum for recorder, viola da gamba, bass clarinet and harpsichord (2006) * Tsunami for recorder or toy piano and live electronics (2006–8) * Light Blue for piano (2001–2004) ** Dichrome Blue ** Blue Marble ** Kalim’balu * Mindtrip for Quintet.net (2000–) * StoryTeller for percussion and interactive media. Collaborative work with Stephan Froleyks (2001–2004) * Exit for violin and live electronics (2001) * Liebeserklärungen for one or two YAHAMA Disklaviers (2000/2004) ** Herzstück ** Blauer Engel * Re: Guitar for microtonal guitar (1999) * Der Sprung – Beschreibung einer Oper. Opera (1994–1998) * Riots for saxophone, electric guitar and double bass (1993) * Nacht for string quartet (1993) * Spuren in der Kälte for accordion, plucked instruments and electronics (1991/95) * Fingerprints for piano (1992–93) * Klangmoraste for chamber orchestra (1990) * Two Cartoons for Disklavier (1989/2006) * Heptadecatonic Drops for MIDI instruments and computer in 17-tone equal temperament (1989/90) * Xylis & Phloë, Leibeslied for double brass quintet (1989/2000) * SLEEPLESSNESS for flute(s), narrator ad lib. and live electronics (1988/1997) * Die Stimmen der Sirenen for saxophone quartet and tape (1986) * Notorisch-Motorisch for string quartet (1985) * LogaRhythmen für Klavier (1983) * Drei frühe Lieder (1981–84)

Installations

* Drei Allegorien von C.D. Friedrich (2006) * Flying Cities. Installation (2003)

Software

* Quintet.net * '' Elektronische Studie II'' by

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th and early 21st-century ...

* Macaque – Audio to Music Notation software package * DJster – MaxMSP implementation of Clarence Barlow's program AUTOBUSK

Publications

* Automatic Composition and Notation in Network Music Environments. SMC’06 Conference Proceedings. Marseille (2006) * "Research and Technology in the Opera ''Der Sprung''". Nova Acta Leopoldina, 92 Nr. 341. (2005) * "Überlegungen zu einer neuen Theorie der Harmonie" in: ''Mikrotöne und mehr'', edited by Manfred Stahnke, Schriftenreihe: Musik und. Volume 8. Edited by

Hanns-Werner Heister Hanns-Werner Heister (born 14 June 1946) is a German musicologist. Life and career Born in Plochingen, (Baden-Württemberg), Heister studied musicology, German literature and linguistics in Tübingen, Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin, received his do ...

and Wolfgang Hochstein. Weidler Verlag, Berlin (2005). . * "Der Computer als Inspirationsquelle für Komponisten" in: Mathematische Musik – musikalische Mathematik. Hrsg. Bernd Enders. PFAU-Verlag, Saarbrücken, 2005 * "Quintet.net: An Environment for Composing and Performing Music on the Internet", LEONARDO Vol. 38, No. 1 (2005) * "Quintet.net". ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' 5 (2004). p. 28. * Composition and improvisation on the Net. SMC’04 Conference Proceedings. IRCAM, Paris (2004). pp. 5–8. * "Quintet.net – A Quintet on the Internet". ''Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference''. (2003). pp. 315–318 * Georg Hajdu, "Quintet.net—Präliminarien zu einer vernetzten, interaktiven Echtzeitkompositionsumgebung," in Bernd Enders and Joachim Stange-Elbe, eds., ''Global Village—Global Brain—Global Music''. Osnabrück: Universitätsverlag Rasch, 2003. * "Klang im Internet. Potentiale und Grenzen". ''Positionen'' 56. (2003). pp. 22–23. * "Vom Modell zum Kunstwerk. Klangart 1997 – Kongressbeitrag", in: ''Musik und Medientechnologie'' 3. Osnabrück, 2000. * "Circularity in Neural Computation and Its Application to Musical Composition". ''Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference'', 1995. * "Low Energy and Equal Spacing; the Multifactorial Evolution of Tuning Systems". ''Interface'' 22, 1993, 319–333. * "Computermusik in der Bay Area. Das Center for New Music and Audio Technologies". ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' 10, 1991. * "Die Domestizierung des Zufalls in Klarenz Barlows Computerprogramm AUTOBUSK" (The Domestication of Chance in Clarence Barlow's Computer Program AUTOBUSK). ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' 8–9, 1990.

References

External links

Georg Hajdu's Personal Website

Ensemble WireWorks

Quintet.net

Hajdu Site at publisher Peermusic Classical
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hajdu, Georg 1960 births Living people German classical composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers Microtonal musicians Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni German male classical composers 20th-century German composers 21st-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians