Beat Furrer, composition

"Flexibility and openness rather than specialisation are some of the requirements to be met by young musicians of our time – in addition to maximum musical and technical skills, they must also have a comprehensive understanding of aesthetic processes far beyond the music of current concert practice. A constant exploration, from ever changing perspectives, of the space that embraces everything that we call music, evolved as it has over the centuries." (Beat Furrer)

Beat Furrer was born in Schaffhausen (Switzerland) in 1954 and received his first musical training on piano at the Music School there. After moving to Vienna in 1975, he studied conducting with Otmar Suitner and composition with Roman Haubenstock Ramati at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst. In 1985 he founded the Klangforum Wien, which he directed until 1992, and with which he is still associated as conductor. Commissioned by the Vienna State Opera, he composed his first opera “Die Blinden”. “Narcissus” was premiered in 1994 as part of the Festival “steirischer herbst” at the Graz Opera. In 1996 he was composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival. His music theatre work “BEGEHREN” was premiered in Graz in 2001, the opera “invocation” in Zürich in 2003 and the sound theatre piece "FAMA" in Donaueschingen in 2005.
In autumn 1991 Furrer became a full professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Graz, besides he has also been guest professor in composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt for several years. In 2004 he was awarded the Music Prize of the City of Vienna, and in 2005 became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. He was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2006 for his work FAMA. One of his latest music theatre works "Wüstenbuch" has just been premiered in March 2010.