Oscar Strasnoy
Encyclopedia
Oscar Strasnoy is a French-Argentine composer
, conductor
and pianist
. Although primarily known for his nine stage works, the first of which Midea (2) premiered in Spoleto
in 2000, his principal compositions also include a secular cantata and several song cycle
s.
and studied piano, conducting and composition there at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música
(with Aldo Antognazzi and Guillermo Scarabino), at the Conservatoire de Paris
(with Guy Reibel
, Michaël Levinas and Gérard Grisey
), where he won in 1996 a Premier Prix à l’Unanimité (first prize) and the Hochschule für Musik, Frankfurt
(with Hans Zender
). He was the Music Director of the Orchestre du Crous de Paris (1996–1998). He was one of the founding recipients of the Grüneisen Foundation (Mozarteum Argentino
) conducting scholarship, and of the French Government Scholarship. In 1999 he was invited by Peter Eötvös
to Herrenhaus-Edenkoben in Germany.
Luciano Berio
awarded him the 2000 Orpheus Prize for his chamber opera
Midea (2) produced at the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto in 2000 and at the Rome Opera in 2001. He was also artist in residence at the Akademie Schloß Solitude in Stuttgart, in 2003 at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto
(Institut français), and in 2006 at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria
, Italy. In 2007 he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Fellowship for Music Composition.
,) Luxembourg, Hamburg, and the Festival d'Aix en Provence); a live-accompanied silent film score for Anthony Asquith
's Underground
which premiered at the Louvre
in 2004 and was subsequently played at the Cine Doré in Madrid, the Mozarteum Argentino, Kyoto, and Tokyo) and a secular cantata, Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K). He also composed several pieces of chamber, vocal and orchestral music, including his song cycle Six Songs for the Unquiet Traveller which premiered in 2004 performed by the Nash Ensemble
and Ann Murray
in a concert to inaugurate the newly refurbished Wigmore Hall
in London.
In January 2012 a retrospective of his work in 17 concerts will be presented at the Théâtre du Châtelet
in Paris as part of the Festival Présences of Radio France
. Strasnoy's works are primaril published by Chant du Monde (Paris) and Billaudot (Paris). His opera Midea is published by Ricordi
(Milan).
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
. Although primarily known for his nine stage works, the first of which Midea (2) premiered in Spoleto
Spoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
in 2000, his principal compositions also include a secular cantata and several song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
s.
Career
Oscar Strasnoy was born in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and studied piano, conducting and composition there at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música
Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música (Argentina)
The Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música is a music school in Buenos Aires, and the leading conservatory in Argentina.The Conservatorio Nacional was founded, among others, by Argentine musician Carlos López Buchardo on July 7, 1924, during the presidency of Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear...
(with Aldo Antognazzi and Guillermo Scarabino), at the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
(with Guy Reibel
Guy Reibel
Guy Reibel is an electronic or acousmatic composer.Made his musical studies at the Conservatoire de Paris.Trained under Olivier Messiaen...
, Michaël Levinas and Gérard Grisey
Gérard Grisey
Gérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...
), where he won in 1996 a Premier Prix à l’Unanimité (first prize) and the Hochschule für Musik, Frankfurt
Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts
The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts is a state Hochschule for Music, Theater and Dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938....
(with Hans Zender
Hans Zender
Johannes Wolfgang Zender is a German conductor and composer.-Life:From 1956 to 1959 Zender studied piano, conducting, and composition at the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt and at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.From 1959 to 1963 he was Kapellmeister of the Municipal Theatres in Freiburg im...
). He was the Music Director of the Orchestre du Crous de Paris (1996–1998). He was one of the founding recipients of the Grüneisen Foundation (Mozarteum Argentino
Mozarteum Argentino
The Mozarteum Argentino is a private, non-profit musical institution in Argentina. It is one of the most important musical institutions in the country and provides scholarships to some of Argentina's most able musicians. The Mozarteum Argentino was established in 1952 and also organizes concerts,...
) conducting scholarship, and of the French Government Scholarship. In 1999 he was invited by Peter Eötvös
Peter Eötvös
Péter Eötvös is a Hungarian composer and conductor.Eötvös was born in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely, Szeklerland, Transylvania . He studied composition in Budapest and Cologne. From 1962, he composed for film in Hungary. Eötvös played regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble between 1968 and...
to Herrenhaus-Edenkoben in Germany.
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
awarded him the 2000 Orpheus Prize for his chamber opera
Chamber opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...
Midea (2) produced at the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto in 2000 and at the Rome Opera in 2001. He was also artist in residence at the Akademie Schloß Solitude in Stuttgart, in 2003 at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
(Institut français), and in 2006 at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
, Italy. In 2007 he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
Fellowship for Music Composition.
Compositions
Oscar Strasnoy has composed nine stage works, including operas peformed at Spoleto, Rome, Reims, Rennes, Paris Opéra ComiqueOpera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
,) Luxembourg, Hamburg, and the Festival d'Aix en Provence); a live-accompanied silent film score for Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations...
's Underground
Underground (1928 film)
Underground is a British drama film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Brian Aherne, Elissa Landi, Cyril McLaglen, and Norah Baring. An electrician and a porter both fall in love with a shop girl they meet on the London Underground....
which premiered at the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in 2004 and was subsequently played at the Cine Doré in Madrid, the Mozarteum Argentino, Kyoto, and Tokyo) and a secular cantata, Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K). He also composed several pieces of chamber, vocal and orchestral music, including his song cycle Six Songs for the Unquiet Traveller which premiered in 2004 performed by the Nash Ensemble
Nash Ensemble
The Nash Ensemble of London is an acclaimed English chamber ensemble. It was founded by Artistic Director Amelia Freedman in 1964, while she was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, and was named after the Nash Terraces around the Academy...
and Ann Murray
Ann Murray
Ann Murray DBE is an Irish mezzo-soprano. She was born on 27 August 1949, in Dublin. She studied with Frederic Cox at the Royal Manchester College of Music and made her stage debut as Alcestis in Christoph Willibald Gluck's Alceste in 1974...
in a concert to inaugurate the newly refurbished Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
in London.
In January 2012 a retrospective of his work in 17 concerts will be presented at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
in Paris as part of the Festival Présences of Radio France
Radio France
Radio France is a French public service radio broadcaster.-Mission:Radio France's two principal missions are:* To create and expand the programming on all of their stations; and...
. Strasnoy's works are primaril published by Chant du Monde (Paris) and Billaudot (Paris). His opera Midea is published by Ricordi
Casa Ricordi
Casa Ricordi is a classical music publishing company founded in 1808 as G. Ricordi & Co. by violinist Giovanni Ricordi in Milan, Italy...
(Milan).
Principal works
- "Midea" (opera, premièred in Spoleto, 2000)
- "Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K)" (cantata, premièred in Edenkoben, 2000)
- "Opérette" (based on Witold GombrowiczWitold GombrowiczWitold Marian Gombrowicz was a Polish novelist and dramatist. His works are characterized by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor...
's play, premièred in Reims, 2003) - "Geschichte", (operetta a cappella based on Witold GombrowiczWitold GombrowiczWitold Marian Gombrowicz was a Polish novelist and dramatist. His works are characterized by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and an absurd, anti-nationalist flavor...
's play, premièred in Stuttgart, 2004) - "Six Songs for the Unquiet Traveller" (on texts by Alberto ManguelAlberto ManguelAlberto Manguel is a Canadian Argentine-born writer, translator, and editor. He is the author of numerous non-fiction books such as The Dictionary of Imaginary Places , A History of Reading , The Library at Night and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey: A Biography ; and novels such as News...
, premièred in London, 2004) - "Underground", music for the 1928 silent film by Anthony Asquith (premièred in Paris, 2004)
- "Fabula", musical-theater (premièred in Buenos Aires, 2005)
- "Scherzo" (Sum nº 3, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2006)
- "The End" (Sum nº 4, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2007)
- "L'instant", (opera, premièred in Paris, 2008)
- "Quodlibet" (song cycle, premièred in Stuttgart, 2008)
- "Le Bal" (opera based on Irène NémirovskyIrène NémirovskyIrène Némirovsky was a French novelist who died at the age of 39 in Auschwitz, Nazi Germany occupied Poland. She was killed by the Nazis for being classified as a Jew under the racial laws, which did not take into account her conversion to Roman Catholicism.-Biography:Irène Némirovsky was born in...
's The Ball, libretto by Matthew Jocelyn, premièred in Hamburg, Opera-House, March 2010) - "Un Retour" (chamber opera based on Alberto ManguelAlberto ManguelAlberto Manguel is a Canadian Argentine-born writer, translator, and editor. He is the author of numerous non-fiction books such as The Dictionary of Imaginary Places , A History of Reading , The Library at Night and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey: A Biography ; and novels such as News...
's novel El Regreso, premièred at Festival d'Aix en Provence, France, July 2010) - "Cachafaz" (opera based on CopiCopiRaúl Damonte Botana , better known by the nom de plume Copi , was an Argentine writer, cartoonist, and playwright who spent most of his career in Paris.-Biography:Damonte spent most of his youth in Montevideo...
's play, premièred at Théâtre de Cornouaille, Quimper, France, Nov. 2010) - "Heine" (song cycle on poems by Heinrich HeineHeinrich HeineChristian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, premièred in Metz, France, Nov. 2010) - "Incipit" (Sum nº 1, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2012)
- "Y" (Sum nº 2, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2012)
- "Dido and Aeneas" (opera based on Henry PurcellHenry PurcellHenry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
's opera), for seven singers, two pianos, two brass instruments and two percussion players. Premièred in Paris, January 2012.
Sources
- Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
(9 March 2000). "Young Argentinean composer wins Italian opera prize" - de la Fuente, Sandra (28 July 2010). "Oscar Strasnoy: «La música pura ya no es suficiente»" (interview with Oscar Strasnoy). ClarínClarinClarin or Clarín may refer to a number of things:*In Argentina, Clarín , the country's main newspaper*In Chile,El Clarín de Chile, a Chilean newspaper*In the Philippines:**The municipality of Clarin, Bohol...
- France Today (5 July 2010). "Live from Aix: World premiere of Un Retour"
- France MusiqueFrance MusiqueFrance Musique is a French public radio station devoted to music, including classical music and jazz. France Musique was created in 1954 as Chaîne Haute-Fidélité then renamed 1958 as France IV Haute Fidélité, then RTF Haute Fidélité in 1963, and finally France Musique in same year...
(16 February 2011) Concert du soir - La NaciónLa NaciónLa Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
(9 August 2008). "Muchos compositores son ignorantes" (interview with Oscar Strasnoy) - Mudge, Stephen J. (March 2011). "Cachafaz, Paris, Opéra Comique, 12/13/10". Opera NewsOpera NewsOpera News is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City...
,Vol. 75, No. 9 - Service, Tom (12 October 2004). "Review: Nash/Kildea, Wigmore Hall, London". The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial FoundationThe John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
(2008) Reports of the president and of the treasurer
External links
- Official website
- List of Oscar Strasnoy's scores published by Chant di Monde, Paris
- Oscar Strasnoy page at the music publishers Billaudot, Paris