Johannes Maria Staud
1974 Born in Innsbruck
1993 Matriculated from high school, Innsbruck
Oct 1993 - July 1994 Performed community service as alternative to military service
1994-1996 Studied composition at the Vienna Conservatory with Ivan Eröd (harmony, counterpoint) and graduated with distinction
1996 Studied composition with Michael Jarrell
1998/99 Also studied electro acoustic composition with Dieter Kaufmann
1999 Studied composition with Hanspeter Kyburz at the Hanns Eisler-Hochschule für Musik in Berlin (Erasmus Scholarship). Took composition courses with Brian Ferneyhough and Alois Pinos.
Started studying philosophy and musicology at the University of Vienna. Member and co-founder of Gegenklang, a group of composers in Vienna. Proactive organizer of concerts
1997 Awarded third prize in the composition competition ‘stasis et vita’ in Kassel for his “Oxymoron for wind” quintet. First performance at Documenta X
1999/2000 Scholarship from the Alban Berg Foundation. Performances in Vienna (also as part of the Wien Modern festival in the Old Smithy), Innsbruck, Prague, Szombathely (Hungary), Kassel, Schwaz (Klangspuren), Erl (Tyrol Festival) and Reichenau (Semmering) by Ernesto Molinori, the Hugo Wolf Quartet, soloists of the Tyrol Symphony Orchestra, the Academia Wind Quintet, Prague, the Wind Quintet of the City Theatre of Kassel, the Ensemble on_line and others. Working scholarship awarded by the Arts Section of the Federal Chancellery
2000 First performance of the work “Vielleicht zunächst wirklich nur” (commissioned by the city of Frankfurt as part of the millennium programme Frankfurt 2000, performed at the Vienna Konzerthaus ("Hörgänge" Festival) by the Ensemble Modern (with further performances in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne)
May 2000 Awarded first prize at the ‘Hanns Eisler Competition for Composers’ in Berlin for “Vielleicht zunächst wirklich nur”
20 Sept 2000 First performance of “...gleichsam als ob...” for orchestra at the Schwazer Klangspuren Festival by the RSO Vienna under Dennis Russell Davies
2001 Work scholarship for music from the City of Vienna
10 Feb 2001 First performance of “Incipit” for alto trombone and five instruments, in Paris (Ensemble Modern)
Nov 2001 First performance of a work for chamber ensemble (Klangforum Wien) in Basel
11 Oct 2002 First performance of a piece for piano and orchestra in Vienna (RSO Wien)
May 2003 First performance of a work for chamber ensemble (Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik)
One Movement and five Miniatures
for harpsichord, live-electronics and ensemble - UA of the revised version
The challenge of combining the harpsichord, an instrument normally used for “old music”, with the computer as an instrument for “new music” was the initial inspiration for this piece. In the course of the work it soon became clear that this isn’t a matter of differentiation but a symbiotic fusion of the two spheres in order to create a new, independent sound-world. The ensemble, consisting of 12 musicians who are positioned in three groups in a semi-circle in front of the amplified harpsichord and backed by four loud-speakers, has an important part to play and can either provide a musical background, function as trigger by providing impulses or become a dialogue partner, depending on the musical situation.
The specific qualities and characteristics of a harpsichord (“two skeletons copulating on a tin roof”) effectively define the interaction between computer and instruments just as the possibilities of live electronics and the spatially distributed ensemble have an influence on the way in which the harpsichord is being used. The electronics part depends and is triggered by the live playing of the harpsichord without any added pre-recorded material.
The six major episodes merge “attacca” into one another, yet each beginning remains clearly recognisable with the help of clear-cut shifts in the musical material. Despite the great variety of musical situations, great importance was given to an overall continuation of lines of development as well as a comprehensive dramaturgical organisation of the piece. (Johannes Maria Staud)