Instrumentation

Michael Obst (*1955)

"Michael Obst a professing traditionalist? Many of his compositions show up unmistakable music-historical references. Compositional allusions to Skryabin, Messiaen, Luciano Berio and Schumann as well as borrowings from the stylistic vocabulary of jazz ...

Michael Obst a professing traditionalist? Many of his compositions show up unmistakable music-historical references. Compositional allusions to Skryabin, Messiaen, Luciano Berio and Schumann, as well as borrowings from the stylistic vocabulary of jazz - as in the "Nachtstücke" for example - make it clear that Obst considers his compositions as part of a music-historical continuum which, beyond mere considerations of structure and concept, serves as a repertoire for his expressive musical idiom." (Hans Hubert Steins, MusikTexte Nr. 84)

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Works at Breitkopf

1955

Born in Frankfurt/Main

1973-1978

Studies music education in Mainz

1977-1982

Studies piano with Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky in Cologne

1979-1982

Active as composer at the Studio for Electronic Music of the Cologne Musikhochschule

1981-1986

Member of the Ensemble Modern as pianist

1986-1989

Works with Karlheinz Stockhausen as performer of electronic keyboard instruments

since 1996

Professor of composition and electronic music in Weimar

2010-2013

Visiting Professor of composition and dramatic arts  in Vienna

Career

Invitations and work commissions from the Studios of Ghent (IPEM), Stockholm (EMS), Paris (IRCAM), Cologne (WDR) and Bourges (GmeB). Several awards at international competitions for electronic music.World premieres and first performances at festivals in Germany and abroad, including at the "10 Years of IRCAM/Paris" event in 1987, the 1987, 1989 and 1995 Donaueschinger Musiktage, the World Music Days in Cologne (1987) and Amsterdam (1989), the 1992 and 1995 "Musik im 20. Jahrhundert" in Saarbrücken, the 1992 Festival "Jeunes Compositeurs" in Paris and the 1996 Munich Biennale.
Writings by Michael Obst (Selection)

De nouveau critère pour apprécier la musique électroacoustique, in: Esthétique et musique électroacoustique, Paris 1996

Neue Musik(-festival)?, in: Programmheft Donaueschinger Musiktage 1996, S. 35-36


Writings on Michael Obst (Selection)

Häusler, Josef: Ein Berliozianer: Michael Obst, in: Spiegel der neuen Musik: Donaueschingen. Chronik - Tendenzen - Werkbesprechungen, Kassel/Stuttgart 1996, S. 388
Spangemacher, Friedrich: Über Michael Obst / On Michael Obst, in: Komponistenprospekt Michael Obst (Breitkopf & Härtel), Wiesbaden 1987, S. 5-8
Steins, Hans Hubert: Expressive Musiksprache. Der Komponist Michael Obst, in: MusikTexte 84, Juni 2000, S. 17-21