Fabian Müller (composer)
Encyclopedia
Biography
Fabian Müller is one of the leading Swiss composers of his generation. He first studied the cello with Claude Starck at the Zurich Conservatory, but then increasingly dedicated his energies to composition. He studied composition with Josef Haselbach at the Zurich Conservatory. After completing his studies, he spent four summers at the courses of the Aspen Music Festival (Colorado). While there, he studied with Jacob DruckmanJacob Druckman
Jacob Druckman was an American composer born in Philadelphia. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Druckman studied with Vincent Persichetti, Peter Mennin, and Bernard Wagenaar. In 1949 and 1950 he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood and later continued his studies at the École Normale de...
, Bernard Rands
Bernard Rands
Bernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...
and George Tsontakis
George Tsontakis
George Tsontakis is an American composer and conductor.Tsontakis studied composition with Hugo Weisgall and Roger Sessions at the Juilliard School from 1974 to 1978, and later with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome...
. In 1996, Müller won the composition prize at the Aspen Festival (the Jacob Druckman Award for Orchestral Composition).
He received decisive encouragement from David Zinman
David Zinman
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
, who made a recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra, London
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
, together with the Cello Concerto from 1999 and three further orchestral works. A further recording, one devoted to Müller’s chamber music for strings, appeared in 2004 with the Petersen Quartet
Petersen Quartet
The Petersen Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1979 by students at the Hanns Eisler Music Conservatory in Berlin, including founding first violinist, Ulrike Petersen, who has recently rejoined the quartet to alternate in the first chair with Conrad Muck...
of Berlin.
Fabian Müller’s works are performed internationally by renowned orchestras and ensembles. His work catalogue to date comprises more than twenty orchestral works, some of them with soloists, many chamber music works, and one full-length stage work. In addition to his activities as a composer, Fabian Müller is artistic director of the International Music Festival Lenzburgiade in Switzerland and is very interested in ethnomusicology. He spent ten years (1991 to 2002) preparing the publication of the Hanny Christen Collection, a ten-volume anthology of folk music with over 10‘000 tunes from the 19th Century, which initiated a new era for the traditional music of his country.
Recent works
His recent commissions include the «Concerto per Klee» for cello and chamber orchestra which was premiered by the cellist Steven IsserlisSteven Isserlis
Steven Isserlis CBE is a British cellist. He is distinguished for his diverse repertoire, distinctive sound and total command of phrasing. He studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was much influenced by the great iconoclast of Russian cello playing, Daniil Shafran...
and the «Weinberger Chamber Orchestra» conducted by Gábor Takács-Nagy
Gábor Takács-Nagy
Gabor Takács-Nagy is a Hungarian violinist and conductor. He began violin studies at age 8. He attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a winner of the Jenő Hubay prize...
, then the «Weinbergher Divertimento» premiered by the same ensemble, and the «Concerto for Orchestra» which was presented on a tour throughout Switzerland (season 08/09) with «Austrian-Hungarian Haydn-Philharmonic orchestra» conducted by Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA , HonMusD , born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.-Biography:...
. One of his recent works is also «Taranis» (2006) for large orchestra, which was premiered by the Bern Symphony Orchestra in the season 08/09 and was on tour in Germany conducted by Andrey Boreyko
Andrey Boreyko
Andrey Boreyko is a Russian conductor. At the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Saint Petersburg, he studied conducting , graduating summa cum laude...
in spring 2009.
Awards
- 1996 Jacob Druckman Award for Orchestral Composition
- 2006 Award of the Canton of Zurich
Discography
- Fabian Müller: Suite for cello and piano, Sonata for cello and piano, Othmar Schoeck: Six songs op 6 arranged for cello and piano. Pi-Chin Chien Violoncello, Adrian Oetiker, piano, Musiques Suisses (2007)
- Portrait-CD; Fabian Müller: Piano Concerto, Labyrinth, Suite for cello and string orchestra, «Lied des Einsamen», Pi-Chin Chien, cello, Adrian Oetiker, piano, Harry White, saxophone, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Ruben Gazarian, conductor; Musiques Suisses (2006)
- Fabian Müller: Chamber music for strings; Petersen Quartet; Tomasz Tomaszewski, violin; Pi-Chin Chien, cello; Andreas Wylezol, double-bass; «20th Century Portraits», Capriccio (2004)
- Portrait-CD; Fabian Müller: «Nachtgesänge», Cello Concerto 1999, Intrada, Gayatri-Rhapsody; Malena Ernman, mezzo-soprano; Pi-Chin Chien, cello; Philharmonia Orchestra, London; David Zinman, conductor, col legno (2002)
- Fabian Müller: Five Intermezzi for alto-saxophone solo, Harry White, saxophone; Deutsche Grammophon (2003)
- Fabian Müller: Violin Concerto 1993, Suite Vaudoise, Rhapsody for String Orchestra, «Nachtgesänge»; MDS Classics (1995)