Herbert Willi

About Herbert Willi

When I turn my thoughts inwards – I always hear music. All the influences of the day leave behind their traces. My aim is however to liberate myself from these traces in the sound of silence where I linger until new structures can be recognised, visualised and heard. (Herbert Willi)

Herbert Willi was born in Vorarlberg on 7 January 1956. He studied music education and theology at the University of Innsbruck parallel to studies in bassoon and piano at the Innsbruck Conservatory. In 1983, he entered the composition class of Helmut Eder at the Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg before continuing his studies with Boguslaw Schaeffer. In 1988, Willi became acquainted with Olivier Messiaen. Herbert Willi lives in St. Anton im Montafon.

Willi views the composition process as being the transcription of inner perceptions originating from images of nature, visions and structural experiences to musical form. The composer functions as a pathfinder who senses sounds originating out of silence and utilises his technical skills to capture these sounds in musical form, making them tangible for the listener. Herbert Willi has composed several works for chamber music but chiefly focuses on orchestral compositions. In 1991, the Cleveland Orchestra issued a commission in cooperation with the Salzburg Festival for his Konzert für Orchester which was premiered in Cleveland under the musical direction of Christoph von Dohnányi. As part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Vienna Philharmonic, Willi produced the composition Begegnung für Orchester (1997/98). In 2007, Willi completed the concerto cycle “Montafon” consisting of the works Eirene (Concerto for trumpet and orchestra, 2001), ...geraume Zeit... (Concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra, 2002/03), ego eimi (Concerto for clarinet and orchestra, 2006) and Äon (Concerto for horn and orchestra, 2007). His violin concerto Sacrosanto (2012) was premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in the Vienna Musikverein with Nikolaj Znaider as a soloist. In 2017, Willi composed the 40-minute orchestral piece DSONG about the Korean symbol for togetherness and peace. Published in different versions, Dsong was at last premiered at the Bregenz Festival in 2022.

In commemoration of the anniversary "1000 years of Austria", Willi composed the opera Schlafes Bruder in response to a commission by the Opera House Zurich in 1994/95. The libretto relating the tragic story of the musical savant Elias played out against the background of the social coldness of an inhospitable mountain village was compiled in direct collaboration with Robert Schneider, the author of the original novel of the same name. A revised version of this opera was produced in 2008 and premiered at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt.

Performances of his works took place in New York (Carnegie Hall), Tokyo (Suntory Hall, Sumida Triphony Hall), London (Royal Albert Hall), Wien (Musikverein) and at the Salzburger Festspiele (Großes Festspielhaus, Felsenreitschule). Among the interpreters of his music are the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pttsburgh Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchetra and conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Christoph von Dohnányi, Manfred Honeck und Gustavo Dudamel.

Willi was the recipient of the Austrian State Scholarship for Composers in 1985, 1986 and 1989 and in 1987 a prize winner of the String Quartet Competition held by the Vienna Konzerthausgesellschaft (performance of Streichquartett 1986 by the Arditti Quartet). In 1987/88, Willi received a scholarship to study in Rome, in 1990 a Rolf-Liebermann scholarship for opera compositions and the Ernst von Siemens Foundation Encouragement Award in 1991. He spent several phases as composer-in-residence (for example in1992: Salzburg Festival and 1996-98: Camerata Academia, Salzburg). He was awarded the Austrian Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst in 1997 and the Große Verdienstzeichen des Landes Vorarlberg in 1998. During the season 2002/2003, he was composer-in-residence at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of the Vienna Musikverein, the Vienna Concert Verein and in 2007 at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo/ Japan and in 2008 at the Japanese Kusatsu International Summer Music Academy & Festival.

Memorable CD productions with Herbert Willi's works include an extensive retrospektive of his orchestral pieces on WERGO (WER-6673) and a chamber music album on Japanese label Camerata (CM-2125).

Homepage: www.herbertwillisociety.org