André Richard (born 18 April 1944) is a Swiss composer and conductor.
Life
Born in
Bern
Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
, Richard studied singing,
music theory
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
and
music composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...
first at the
Conservatoire de musique de Genève
The Conservatoire de musique de Genève is a music school in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Conservatory hosts 2,400 non-professional students. Since 2009, the professional courses have been led by the Geneva University of Music (''Haute école de ...
and later at the
Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
The Hochschule für Musik Freiburg ("University of Music Freiburg or Freiburg Conservatory of Music") is a public music academy subsidized by the State of Baden-Württemberg for academic research and artistic and pedagogical training in music.
...
with
Klaus Huber
Klaus Huber (30 November 1924 – 2 October 2017) was a Swiss composer and academic based in Basel and Freiburg. Among his students were Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, and Kaija Saaria ...
and
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
. This was followed by studies in live
electronic music
Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
with
Hans Peter Haller
Hans Peter Haller (26 October 1929 – 16 April 2006) was a German composer and pioneer of electroacoustic music.
Life
Born in Radolfzell, Haller studied church music in Heidelberg from 1947 and took composition lessons with Wolfgang Fortne ...
at the Freiburg and 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 music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...
in Paris. In the 1980s, he worked closely with
Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music.
Biography
Early years
Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono bega ...
on performances of ''
Prometeo
''Prometeo'' (''Prometheus'') is an "opera" by Luigi Nono, written between 1981 and 1984 and revised in 1985. Here the word "opera" carries the generic Italian meaning of "works", as in work of art, and not its usual meaning in English. Indeed, ...
'', ''Caminantes...'', ''Ayacucho'' and other works by the composer. In 1983, on the occasion of a performance of Luigi Nono's work ''The Breathing Clarity'', he founded, together with
Arturo Tamayo, the Freiburg Soloists' Choir, of which he has been the director since 1984. He made his
conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary d ...
debut at the
Warsaw Autumn
Warsaw Autumn () is the largest international Polish festival of contemporary music. It was established in 1956 by two composers, Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki, and officially established by the Head Board of the Polish Composers' Union ...
in 1988 with the Polish premiere of Nono's ''Diario Polacco no 2, Quando stanno morendo''. From December 1989 to December 2005, he was director of the experimental studio of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of the
Südwestrundfunk
(; ), shortened to SWR (), is a regional public broadcasting corporation serving the southwest of Germany, specifically the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The corporation has main offices in three cities: Stuttg ...
. With his studio, he has appeared internationally in numerous realisations of new works with integrated live-electronic means as interpreter and conductor.
Awards
* 1992
Reinhold-Schneider-Preis The Reinhold-Schneider-Preis (Reinhold Schneider Prize) is the cultural prize awarded by the German town of Freiburg im Breisgau. It has been awarded biennially since 1960, alternating between literature, music and art. In addition to the main prize ...
of the city of Freiburg
* 1994
Works
* 1983 ''Von aussen her…'' for violin and piano
* 1985/86 ''Echanges'' for Ensemble and
Live electronic music
Live electronic music (also known as live electronics) is a form of music that can include traditional electronic sound-generating devices, modified electric musical instruments, hacked sound generating technologies, and computers. Initially the pr ...
* 1987 ''Musique de rue'' Scenic music for ensemble and tape
* 1989–1991 ''Glidif. a sonar e cantar'' for bass clarinet, double bass clarinet, 2 double basses and live electronics
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richard, Andre
Swiss conductors (music)
20th-century Swiss classical composers
1944 births
Living people
Musicians from Bern