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Detlev Mueller-Siemens

Detlev Mueller-Siemens

Country of origin: Germany
Birthday: July 30, 1957

About Detlev Mueller-Siemens

Detlev Mueller-Siemens was born in Hamburg in 1957. In 1970 he began to study theory, composition and piano at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, starting with composition lessons with Guenter Friedrichs and continuing with György Ligeti from 1973-1980, interrupted by an one-year residence in Paris 1977/78. There he studied with Olivier Messiaen. Mueller-Siemens continued his studies of piano with Volker Banfield and took conducting lessons with Christoph von Dohnányi in Hamburg from 1978-1980 and with Klauspeter Seibel in 1985. In 1981 he was assistant conductor of the production of György Ligeti’s "Le Grand Macabre" at the Paris Opera. From 1986-1988 he was assistant conductor at the Theatre Freiburg.

Mueller-Siemens was awarded numerous prizes and scholarships, so he stayed twice at the Villa Massimo in Rome (1980, 1982) and was awarded the Price of the Hindemith Foundation (1985), the Rolf-Liebermann-Grant (1988) and the Rolf-Liebermann-sponsorship for his opera Die Menschen (after a drama by Walter Hasenclever). Detlev Mueller-Siemens hold a professorship for composition at Music Academy in Basel since 1991. From March 2005, he is professor at the University of Vienna.

He wrote operas, works for orchestra and for ensemble, concertos, chamber music and works for piano. His chamber opera Bing (after Samuel Beckett) has been world premiered at the Bonn opera in December 2001. In 2014 ...called dusk III for ensemble received its world premiere at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna.

Successful international concerts took place with the so-called Subsong works for different chamber music instrumentations. Subsong 1 for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, violin, viola and violoncello came out in Basel in 2016. Subsong 2 for string quartet in 2018 in Zurich and Subsong 3 for basset clarinet and string quartet in 2022 at the Schwetzingen Castle. The composer wrote: "Subsong is an ornithological term denoting a type of bird song that is not yet structured and not related to species-specific territorial songs or the like. It is therefore free of purpose and only serves to test the vocabulary; perhaps the subsong could also be described as a kind of existential self-assurance."

Detlev Müller-Siemens lives in Vienna and Basle.

 

 

Worklist

Chronology

1957
Born in Hamburg on 30 July
1970-72
Studied theory and composition with Günther Friedrichs as well as piano with Konrad Richter at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg
1973-80
Studied composition with György Ligeti, piano with Andreas Meyer-Hermann, Eckart Besch and Volker Banfield, and conducting with Christoph von Dohnányi at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg
1974
Kranichstein Music Award at the Internationale Ferienkurse Neuer Musik in Darmstadt
1975
Encouragement Award of the Hamburg Bach Prize
1975
Scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and of the Heinrich Strobel Foundation
1977
Spent one year in Paris, studying with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique
1980
July-December: first stay at the Villa Massimo, Rome
1981
Assistant conductor of the production of György Ligeti´s "Le Grand Macabre" at the Paris Opera (conductor: Elgar Howarth)
1982
March-September: second stay at the Villa Massimo, Rome
1983
International Rostrum of Composers, Paris: 1st place in the category "Composers under 30"; overall ranking: 3rd place
1983
Scholarship of the Wilfried Steinbrenner Foundation
1985
Majored in conducting with Klauspeter Seibel at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg; Hindemith Award of the Hindemith Foundation
1986
Encouragement Award of the Berlin Arts Prize (Akademie der Künste); Schneider-Schott Music Award
1986-88
Kapellmeister at the Städtische Bühnen Freiburg/Breisgau
1987
Hindemith Encouragement Award
1988
Rolf Liebermann scholarship
1990
Rolf Liebermann Encouragement Award for the opera "Die Menschen"
since 1991
Professor of composition and theory at the Music Academy of Basel
1994
UK Tour (Warwick, Bath, Southampton, Birmingham, London - Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (cond. Elgar Howarth) and NASH-Ensemble, London)
1994
Lectures and concerts: Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Bordeaux and Pau (ensemble musique nouvelle, cond. Paul Méfano); Palermo and Catania (Gruppo Strumentale dell'EAOSS, cond. Angelo Faja); 31. Festival di Nuova Consonanza, Rom (Ensemble Staatsorchester Stuttgart, cond. Bernhard Kontarsky)
1998
1998 South-Eastern Asia Tour: workshops and concerts in Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta, Manila, Singapore - LINOS-Ensemble, Cologne
2003
India-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka-Pakistan Tour (Mumbay, New Delhi, Calcutta, Dhaka, Madras, Colombo, Karachi - LINOS-Ensemble, Cologne)
2005
Professor for composition at the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna
2014

First performance of ...called dusk III at the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna by the ensemble reconsil

2015
"Traces" CD at Wergo
2016
"Subsong 1" for ensemble
2016-19

Jury member and coaching of the participants in the "Trabant" composition competition with the "Phoenix Ensemble", Basel

2022

Head of the "Masterclass Composition" within the framework of the "ISA - International Summer Academy Vienna - Prague - Budapest" in Semmering

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