Early life

Iris ter Schiphorst began taking piano lessons, initially from her mother, after her early hopes of becoming a dancer were thwarted by injury. She continued her piano studies at the Bremen Musikhochschule from 1973 to 1978. She then spent two years (1978–1980) travelling in Europe and Africa, an experience that transformed her social and musical outlook. On returning to Germany she began playing in rock bands, including Bremen's all-female Seven Kick the Can.

She moved to Berlin in 1984 and from 1986 studied humanities (theatre studies, cultural studies, and philosophy) at the Freie Universität Berlin

Free University of Berlin

Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...

, later moving to Humboldt-Universität

Humboldt University of Berlin

The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...

. She also attended seminars with composers Dieter Schnebel

Dieter Schnebel

Dieter Schnebel is a composer. From 1976 until his retirement in 1995, Schnebel served as professor of experimental music at the Berlin Hochschule der Künste.-Career:...

 and Luigi Nono

Luigi Nono

Luigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...

 and musicologist Helga de la Motte-Haber, but is otherwise self-taught in composition.

Composing career

ter Schiphorst's experience as a practising musician - first as a classical pianist and later as an avant-rock keyboardist, bassist, drummer, and sound engineer - has been an important influence on her approach to composition. Her music is also informed by her abiding interest in dance.

She first emerged as a composer in the 1980s, with early works including Terrible (1982); and Postludium aus Vergessenem (1985).

Later in the decade she co-founded the zeit-Musik collective of composers and musicologists, and concentrated on music exploring the relationship between text and sound. Works from this period include the radio pieces Inside-outside II (1989) and Und was, wenn die Schlange ein Schwein gewesen wäre? (1989).

Her interest in electronic music and sampling techniques led her to form the electro-acoustic ensemble intrors in 1990, with whom she won the Blaue Brücke composition competition in 1997 for Silence Moves (1997; with Helmut Oehring) and made two recordings, Liebesgeschwüre im Schneckenhaus (1992) and Silence Moves und Anna's Wake (1999).

At the same time, ter Schiphorst was developing an interest in writing for stage and multimedia performance. 1055, die Welt ist noch in Ordnung (1984) is an early example, but it was only in the nineties that this became a big part of her output, beginning with Strings (1991), Anna's Wake, and Z.B. Herz (both 1992).

In 1996 she formed a composing partnership with her sometime companion Helmut Oehring

Helmut Oehring

Helmut Oehring is a German composer. He studied with Friedrich Goldmann and Georg Katzer at the Akademie der Künste. He was guest of the Villa Massimo....

, which lasted until 2001: "Their joint creative activities were inaugurated in 1996 when Oehring asked to use melodic material by Schiphorst in his dance-opera The D’Amato System, premiered at the Munich Biennale. They then experimented with wholesale co-composition in the highly successful Polaroids, which was given its first performance by Ensemble Modern the same year." ter Shiphorst wrote little music under her own name during this period as she focused on collaborative composition and caring for her son.

One work ter Schiphorst did produce independently in the late 1990s, and a significant milestone, was her first composition for full orchestra, Hundert Komma Null (1999). It was commissioned by Musica Viva München and shortlisted for the 2001 Prix Italia

Prix Italia

The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...

. This was followed by Gestures (2001), and a succession of compositions that demonstrate her growing assurance and maturity.

ter Shiphorst's other awards and distinctions include: first prize in the Third Composition Competition for Synthesized and Computerized Music in 1992; her tenure in 2004 as artist-in-residence at Kuenstlerinnenhof Die Hoege, a centre for female artists at Bassum near Bremen; the selection of Zerstören (2005/2006) as an official German entry for the 2007 World Music Days in Hong Kong; the special jury prize at the Internationaler Komponistinnen Wettbewerb in 2008 for Miniaturen für Cello und Akkordeon (2008); and her selection as one of four prizewinners in the 2011 ad libitum Composition Competition for Klangrätsel.

Like Die Gänsemagd (2009) and Grüffelo (2011), Klangrätsel (Sound Puzzle) reflects ter Schiphorst's recent interest in bringing the language of contemporary music to young listeners.

Performances

ter Schiphorst's music is performed regularly in her native Germany, less frequently elsewhere in Europe, and rarely in the English-speaking world.

1980s

• Terrible (1982; premiered Lüneburg, 1984), for voice, three trumpets, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums.
• 1055, die Welt ist noch in Ordnung (1984), for three spotlights, two female dancers, and two male dancers.
• Postludium aus Vergessenem (1985), for mixed choir and percussion.
• Geschlossene Welt (1986), for prepared piano.
• Inside-outside (1988; premiered Berlin, 1988), sound installation, for Walkmen and four-track tape.
• Inside-outside II (1989; first broadcast performance on Radio 100, 1989), radio piece after a text by Gertrude Stein
  Gertrude Stein
  Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
  
  .
• Und was, wenn die Schlange ein Schwein gewesen wäre? (1989; first broadcast performance on ORF as part of the Kunstradio-Radiokunst series, 1989), radio piece after a text by Karin Spielhofer.
• Minimal(e) String(en)z (1989; premiered Oldenburg, 1991), for three violins, cello, and systhesiser/keyboard.

1990s

• Ballade für einen Bulldozer (1990; premiered Berlin, 1990), for violin and synthesiser/sampler.
• Ergo sum-pf-maschinerie (1990; premiered Berlin, 1990), for violin and synthesiser/sampler.
• In meinem Herzen wächst ein Hühnerauge (1990, premiered Berlin, 1990), sound installation, for sixteen small loudspeakers and four auto-reverse tape recorders.
• Zerstören sagt sie (1990; premiered Berlin, 1990), for violin and synthesiser/sampler.
• Drowned (1990; premiered Oldenburg, 1991), for violin and synthesiser/sampler.
• Liebesgeschwüre (1991; premiered Berlin, 1991), for voice, flute, two violins, and synthesiser/sampler.
• Strings (1991; premiered Berlin, 1991), for tape and solo dancer.
• Eis (1992; premiered Berlin, 1992), for flute and synthesiser/sampler.
• Z.B. Herz (1992; premiered Braunschweig, 1992), for performer and synthesiser/sampler.
• Anna's Song (1992; premiered Berlin, 1993), for voice, violin, viola, cello, and synthesiser/sampler.
• Anna's Wake (1992; premiered Berlin, 1993), 3-D opera, for tape, singers and 16-mm film.
• Nightdances (1992; premiered Berlin, 1994), for voice, two violins, electric bass, and synthesiser/sampler.
• Engeltropfen (1993; first broadcast performance on ORF as part of the Kunstradio-Radiokunst series, 1993), radio piece after a text by Karin Spielhofer.
• Eiszeit (1993; premiered Berlin, 1994), for two voices, two flutes, violin, viola, and synthesiser/sampler.
• Der Blick des Ohrs (1995; premiered Vienna, 1995), for five actors, bass clarinet, and eight-track tape; text after Karin Spielhofer.
• Eden Cinema (1995; premiered Berlin, 1996), for prepared piano and sampler.
• Eden Cinema II (1996/2004; premiered Berlin, 2004), for prepared piano and CD player ad libitum.
• Hundert Komma Null: Ballade für Orchester (1999; premiered Munich, 2000), for orchestra and sampler.

2000s

• Gestures (2001; premiered Düsseldorf, 2001), for five male voices, prepared piano, sampler, and CD player.
• Broken (or Why don't you say a word?) (2001/2002; premiered Potsdam, 2002), for small orchestra and sampler.
• Euridice: Szenen aus der Unterwelt (2001/2002; premiered Bielefeld, 2002), chamber opera, for one female dancer/singer, three female dancers/narrators, one male dancer, ensemble, and electronics; text by Karin Spielhofer.
• My Sweet Latin Lover (2002; premiered Munich, 2002), for amplified flute with effects, five electric guitars, two percussionists, and sampler.
• My Sweet Latin Lover (2002/2005; premiered Köln, 2005), version for flute and electric guitar.
• My Sweet Latin Lover II (2002; premiered Leipzig, 2002), for amplified flute with effects, electric guitar, and live electronics.
• Wie einen Wasserfisch (2002; premiered Forbach, 2003), for voice and eight instruments.
• Für Akkordeon (2003; premiered Krefeld, 2003), for accordion solo.
• Und Pommernland ist abgebrannt: deutsches Schreiben (2003; premiered Berlin, 2003), for cor anglais, bass flute, amplified bass clarinet, CD player, and effects machine ad libitum.
• Changeant (2004; premiered Stockholm, 2005), for solo voice and CD player ad libitum.
• Erlaube, Fremdling, dass ich dich berühre (2004; premiered Dresden, 2004), for one mime, two ensembles, video projections, and tapes.
• Erlaube, Fremdling, dass ich dich berühre (2004/2005; premiered Berlin, 2005), version for one mime, one female actor, two ensembles, and tapes.
• La Coquille et le Clergyman (2004; premiered Amsterdam, 2005), music for the film by Germaine Dulac (1928), for twelve instruments (two prepared pianos, sampler, harp, electric guitar, two percussionists, strings) and CD soundtrack.
• Aus Kindertagen: Verloren (2004/2005; premiered Köln, 2005), for prepared piano, violin, cello (left ensemble), string quartet, electric guitar (right ensemble), and two CD players; text by Iris ter Schiphorst and from Karin Spielhofer's novel Emilia gerät in die Kriegswirren, oder O der neue Tag (1993).
• Vielleicht Gestern (2005; premiered Dresden, 2006), for bass clarinet.
• Hi Bill (2005; premiered Berlin, 2007), for bass clarinet.
• A Little Madness in the Spring (2005/2006; premiered Porto, 2006), for eighteen instruments, electronics, and three videos; visuals by Daniel Kötter.
• Zerstören (2005/2006; premiered Witten, 2006), for seventeen instruments, sampler, and tape.
• Zerstören II (2006; premiered Siegen, 2007), for large orchestra and sampler.
• No Sir (2007; premiered Neuss, 2007), for flute and Paetzold recorder.
• Vergeben: Bruchstücke zu Edgar Varèse (2007; premiered Köln, 2007), for winds, percussion, and piano.
• Miniaturen für Cello und Akkordeon (2008).
• Miniaturen für Klarinette und Akkordeon (2008; premiered Berlin 2008)
• Dislokationen (2008/2009; premiered Munich, 2009), for large orchestra, amplified piano, and sampler.
• Die Gänsemagd (2009; premiered Vienna, 2010), opera for children, for child soprano, two mezzo-sopranos, bass, actor/dancer, bass clarinet, accordion, cello, and sampler; libretto by Helga Utz after the "The Goose Girl
  The Goose Girl
  The Goose Girl is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, The Goose Girl has been recorded as Tale no. 89....
  
  ", a fairytale collected by the Brothers Grimm
  Brothers Grimm
  The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
  
   (1815).
• Le Chien Andalou (2009; premiered Berlin, 2010), music for the film by Louis Bunuel und Salvador Dalí
  Salvador Dalí
  Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
  
   (1929), for piccolo trumpet, trombone, cello, electric guitar, piano, and two percussionists.

2010s

• Dislokationen II (2010; premiered Munich, 2010), for violin, viola, cello, piano, and sampler.
• Passion 13: Melodram (2010; premiered Leipzig, 2010), for female singer and orchestra.
• Aung (2011; premiered Copenhagen, 2011), for singer/performer, percussion, harp, piano, live electronics, and strings; text by Helga Utz.
• Grüffelo (2011; premiered Berlin, 2011), theatre music, for clarinet, horn, piano, violin, cello, and double bass; text after Julia Donaldson's
  Julia Donaldson
  Julia Catherine Donaldson MBE is an English writer and playwright, best known as author of The Gruffalo and other children's books, many illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Of her 157 published works, 56 are widely available in bookshops...
  
   story for children The Gruffalo
  The Gruffalo
  The Gruffalo is a children's book by writer and playwright Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, that tells the story of a mouse's walk in the woods...
  
  (1999).
• Studien zu Figuren (2011; premiered Donaueschingen, 2011), for solo voices.

Collaborations with Helmut Oehrling

• Polaroids: Melodram (1996; premiered Donaueschingen, 1996), for female deaf soloist, male soprano/counter-tenor, twelve instruments, and live electronics.
• Live: aus Androgyn (1997; premiered Witten, 1997), eighteen songs from Anne Sexton's
  Anne Sexton
  Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
  
   poem "Live", for voice, violin, cello, prepared piano/keyboard sampler, and live electronics.
• Live: aus Androgyn (1997/2007; premiered Kaiserslautern, 2007), eighteen songs from Anne Sexton's
  Anne Sexton
  Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
  
   poem "Live", version for counter-tenor, violin, cello, prepared piano/keyboard sampler, and live electronics.
• Silence Moves I (1997; premiered Dresden, 1997), soundtrack for an imaginary film, for voice, violin, cello, electric bass, prepared piano/sampler, live electronics, prerecorded performance CD, and video installation.
• Silence Moves II (1997; premiered Rome, 1997), for voice, violin, prepared piano/sampler, electric guitar, bass guitar, percussion, live electronics, and tapes.
• Prae-Senz (Ballet Blanc II) (1997; premiered Berlin, 1997), for violin, cello and prepared piano/sampler.
• Im Vormonat (1997/1998; premiered Saarbrücken, 1998), for oboe, bass clarinet, bassoon, percussion, piano, violin, cello, and double bass.
• A.N. (evita-che guevara-madonna) (1998; premiered Liège, 1998), for two voices, eight instruments, and live electronics.
• Requiem (1998; premiered Paris 1998), for three counter-tenors, twelve instruments, and live electronics; text after Anne Sexton's
  Anne Sexton
  Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
  
   psalm sequence "O Ye Tongues" from The Death Notebooks (1974).
• Mischwesen (la tristessa durera) (1998; premiered Gent, 1998), for female deaf soloist, three trumpets, and sample keyboard; text after Anne Sexton's poem "Silence", with additional words by Oehring and ter Schiphorst; visuals by Daniel Kötter.
• Mischwesen (la tristessa durera) (1998/1999, premiered Bremen, 1999), version for female deaf soloist, oboe, flute, bassoon, and keyboard.
• Mischwesen (la tristessa durera) (1998/2002, premiered Kassel, 2002), version for female deaf soloist, flute, clarinet, bassoon, and keyboard.
• Mischwesen (la tristessa durera) (1998/2002, premiered Berlin, 2002), version for female deaf soloist, trumpet, trombone, tuba, and keyboard.
• Mischwesen (la tristessa durera) (1998/2007, premiered Kaiserslautern, 2007), version for female deaf soloist, trumpet, bass clarinet, cello, and keyboard.
• Bernada Albas Haus (1999; premiered Basel 1999), dance-theatre music, for female deaf soloist, male soprano/counter-tenor, seven dancers, electric guitar, double bass, and live electronics; text after the play by Federico García Lorca.
• Der Ort ist nicht der Ort (2000; premiered Hannover, 2000), music-theatre action, for female deaf soloist, soprano, male soprano/counter-tenor, ensemble, live electronics, light, and graphics; libretto by ter Schiphorst and Oehring; graphics by Hagen Klennert.
• Als ob: Suite (2000; premiered Dresden 2000), music and dance project, for dancer, sub-bass recorder, bass clarinet, electric guitar, piano/keyboard, accordion, and two percussionists.
• Effi Briest (2000; premiered Bonn, 2001), music theatre psychogram in four acts, for female deaf soloist, voice, male soprano/counter-tenor, female speaker, ensemble, and live electronics; libretto by Oehring and ter Schiphorst after Theodor Fontane's
  Theodor Fontane
  Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.-Youth:Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an...
  
   novel Effi Briest
  Effi Briest
  Effi Briest is widely considered to be Theodor Fontane’s masterpiece and one of the most famous German realist novels of all time. Thomas Mann once said that if one had to reduce one’s library to six novels, Effi Briest would have to be one of them...
  
  (1894).
• Etius (2000; premiered Oldenburg, 2001), ensemble version of Als ob: Suite, for sub-bass recorder, bass clarinet, electric guitar, piano, sampler, accordion, and two percussionists.
• rumgammeln+warten (2001; premiered Basel, 2001), for solo voice, female deaf soloist, ensemble, and prerecorded performance CD; text by Oehring and ter Schiphorst.
• Berlin: Sinfonie einer Großstadt (2001; premiered Berlin, 2002), music for the film by Thomas Schadt (2002), for large orchestra.

Discography

ter Schiphorst's independent compositions are poorly documented on record. Her collaborations with Helmut Oehring are slightly better served. Many of these recordings are out of print.

Works by ter Schiphorst

• Ballade für einen Bulldozer (1990), Ergo sum-pf-maschinerie (1990), Drowned (1990), and Liebesgeschwüre (1991) appear on Liebesgeschwüre im Schneckenhaus: Electroacoustic Compositions, performed by Ensemble Intrors (self-published, 1992)
• Anna's Wake (1992) appears on Silence Moves and Anna's Wake, performed by Ensemble Intrors (self-published, 1999)
• La Coquille et le Clergyman (2004) appears on Germaine Dulac: Drei Filme der französischen Stummfilm-Pionierin 1922-1928 (DVD), peformed by the Asko Ensemble and Peter Rundel (Absolut Medien, 2007)
• Hi Bill (2005) appears on Bass Clarinet, performed by Volker Hemken (Profil – Edition Günter Hänssler, 2002)
• Zerstören (2005/2006) appears on Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik 2006, performed by the Asko Ensemble and Hans Leenders (Kulturforum Witten, 2006)
• No Sir (2007) appears on Neue Flötentöne Live, performed by Dörte Nienstedt and Anne Horstmann (AO / NRW Vertrieb, 2008)

Works by ter Schiphorst and Oehring

• Polaroids: Melodram (1996) appears on Donaueschinger Musiktage 1996, performed by Christina Schönfeld, Arno Raunig, Ensemble Modern, and Jürg Wyttenbach (Col Legno, 1996); an excerpt of the same performance appears on Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000: Musiktheater > Experimentelles Musiktheater > Visible Music (Sony / Deutscher Musikrat, 2004)
• Silence Moves I (1997) appears on Silence Moves and Anna's Wake, performed by Ensemble Intrors (self-published, 1999)
• Prae-Senz (Ballet Blanc II) (1997) appears on Chamber Music, performed by Ensemble Ictus (Cyprès, 2000)
• Live: aus Androgyn (1997) appears on Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik 1997, performed by Salome Kammer, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, and Roland Kluttig (Kulturforum Witten, 1997)
• Live: aus Androgyn (1997) and Im Vormonat (1997/1998) appear on Kammermusik, performed by Salome Kammer and Ensemble Aventure (Ars Musici / Freiburger Musik Forum, 2000)
• Requiem (1998) appears on Donaueschinger Musiktage 1998, performed by Arno Raunig, David Newman, Jean Nirouët, Helmut Oehring, Ensemble Ictus, and Georges Octors (Col Legno, 1998)
• Bernada Albas Haus (1999) (excerpt) appears on Musik in Deutschland 1950–2000: Musiktheater > Tanztheater > Motive der Weltliteratur, performed by Arno Raunig, Christina Schönfeld, Jörg Wilkendorf, Peter Kowald, Markus Reschtnewki, and Torsten Ottersberg (RCA / Deutscher Musikrat, 2005)
• Berlin: Sinfonie einer Großstadt (2001) appears on Berlin: Sinfonie einer Großstadt (DVD), performed by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Sinfonieorchester des Südwestrundfunks, and Roland Kluttig (Arthaus Musik / Monarda, 2009)