Beat Furrer is an Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n composer and conductor of Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 birth.

Born in Schaffhausen

Schaffhausen

Schaffhausen is a city in northern Switzerland and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 34,587 ....

, Switzerland, Furrer relocated to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 in 1975 to pursue studies with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna.Haubenstock-Ramati studied composition, music theory, violin and philosophy in Kraków and Lemberg from 1937 to 1940. Among his teachers were Artur Malawski and Józef Koffler. From 1947 to 1950 he was...

 (composition) and Otmar Suitner

Otmar Suitner

Otmar Suitner was an Austrian conductor who spent most of his professional career in East Germany. He was born in Innsbruck and died in Berlin. He was Principal Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden from 1960 to 1964, and then Music Director at the Berlin State Opera from 1964 to 1990...

 (conducting). In 1985 he co-founded what is now one of Europe's leading contemporary music ensembles, Klangforum Wien

Klangforum Wien

The Klangforum Wien is an Austrian chamber orchestra, based in Vienna at the Konzerthaus, which specialises in contemporary classical music.Founded by composer and conductor Beat Furrer in 1985, it is run on collective principles, having no official principal conductor. Sylvain Cambreling is...

, which he still conducts. Recent awards and honors include the Music Prize of the City of Vienna in 2003 and the Golden Lion

Golden Lion

Il Leone d’Oro is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes...

, for the monodrama "FAMA," at the 2006 Venice Biennale

Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...

. Since 1991, he has served as professor of composition

Composition studies

Composition Studies is the professional field of writing research and instruction, focusing especially on writing at the college level in the United States...

 at the Graz University of Music and Dramatic Arts.

The 25th anniversary of the Klangforum Wien was celebrated in 2010 at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik

Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik

The Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik is a music festival for contemporary chamber music, jointly organised by the town Witten in the Ruhr Area and the broadcasting station Westdeutscher Rundfunk...

with the premiere of his Xenos-Szenen for eight voices and ensemble.

Selected works

• a due for viola and piano (1997)
• Aer for piano, clarinet and cello (1991)
• Die Blinden, Chamber Opera in 1 act
• Chiaroscuro Für R.H.R., for orchestra
• Ensemble for 4 clarinets, 2 piano, vibraphone and marimbaphone
• Face de la chaleur for flute, clarinet, piano and orchestra in 4 groups
• Fama Opera in 8 Scenes (2004-2005)
• Für Alfred Schlee for string quartet
• Gaspra for ensemble
• Illuminations for soprano and chamber ensemble
• Madrigal for orchestra
• Narcissus, Opera in 6 Scenes
• Narcissus-Fragment for 2 narrators and 26 players
• Nuun for 2 pianos and ensemble (1996)
• Phasma for solo piano (2002)
• Poemas for mezzo-soprano, guitar, piano and marimba (1984)
• Retour an Dich for violin, cello and piano (1986)
• Risonanze for orchestra in 3 groups
• Schleedoyer I for string quartet
• spur für Klavier und Streichquartett (1998)
• String Quartet No.1 (1984)
• String Quartet No.2
• String Quartet No.3 (2004)
• Studie 2 – a un moment de terre perdue for ensemble
• Studie – Übermalung for large orchestra
• Tiro mis tristes redes for orchestra
• Trio for flute, oboe or saxophone and clarinet
• Ultimi cori for mixed chorus and 3 percussionists
• Voicelessness. The Snow Has No Voice for piano (1986)
• Wie diese Stimmen for 2 cellos
• Wüstenbuch Opera (2010)

Sources

• Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 985 pages, ISBN 0-19-861459-4