Stefan Prins

À propos de Stefan Prins

Stefan Prins is a Belgian composer whose visceral music often combines acoustic instruments, ensembles and orchestras with electronics, video or performative elements, examining the relationship between contemporary technologies, the performing body, the audience and the environments they inhabit. His compositions challenge established conventions and engage with broader cultural and technological developments, inviting audiences to reconsider how music is experienced in an increasingly mediated world.

After graduating in engineering, Prins studied composition with Luc Van Hove at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp. Concurrently, he pursued studies in Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Technology in Music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, and Culture Philosophy and Philosophy of Technology at the University of Antwerp. He completed his PhD in composition at Harvard University under the supervision of Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku.

Much of Prins' output unfolds in multi-part cycles that are revisited and expanded over a number of years. Among the best known are Generation Kill, Piano Hero, Mirror Box, Inhibition Space and Fremdkörper. His catalogue also includes the music theatre work Third Space, the electric guitar concerto under_current and the large-scale spatial composition inhabit_inhibit, demonstrating the diversity of his artistic practice.

Prins' music has been performed by leading orchestras, ensembles and festivals for contemporary music worldwide. Among them are the SWR Symphonieorchester, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, alongside ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Mosaik, ASKO|Schönberg, Ensemble Ascolta, Nikel Ensemble, the Arditti Quartet and the Nadar Ensemble, of which he is co-artistic director together with Pieter Matthynssens. His works have been featured at the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Darmstadt Summer Course, Wien Modern, Wittener Tage für Neue Musik, Eclat, Warsaw Autumn, Ultraschall Berlin and many other international festivals.

Prins has received numerous international distinctions, including the Berlin Art Prize for Music (Berliner Kunstpreis für Musik), the Kranichstein Music Prize for Composition, the ISCM Young Composer Award and the International Impuls Composition Award. He was also named a Laureate of the Royal Belgian Academy of Flanders for Sciences and Arts and, in 2012, was awarded the title of Young Belgian Musician of the by the Union of Belgian Music Journalists.

Alongside his work as a composer, Prins is also active as a musician and educator. He was Guest Professor at the Bern University of the Arts from 2018 to 2020 and at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo from 2019 to 2020. From 2020 to 2026, he served as Professor of Composition and Director of the Hybrid Music Lab at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden. In September 2026, he will take up a professorship in Mixed Composition at the Haute École de Musique de Genève. He also regularly gives masterclasses and workshops at international festivals, conservatories, and research institutions.

Among Prins's publications are the essay Watch Me Watch You Watch Me. Instrumentalizing the Audience's Gaze in the Age of Selfies (A Meta-Selfie), published in ÖFFENTLICHprivat. (Zwischen)Räume in der Gegenwartsmusik (Schott Music), and several articles in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik.

His latest orchestral work, Madness Machines, published by Schott Music, will receive its world premiere at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in October 2026, performed by the SWR Symphonieorchester.

His music is documented on recordings released by Wergo, Kairos, Neos and Sub Rosa.