Helmut Lachenmann

*1935, Stuttgart

"It is all too easy to dismiss the work of Lachenmann as 'musica negativa', in the deprecatory manner that the term was used by Hans Werner Henze in his attack on this composer. What is at play is the fact that Lachenmann's music forces the listener to confront and question their ingrained expectations from and responses to music, in an attempt to extend and further illuminate one's powers of perception. This is far from mere nihilism."

Ian Pace, Musical Times
Selected Awards
1965 · Cultural Prize for Music of the City of Munich
1968 · Composition Prize of the City of Stuttgart
1972 · Bach Prize of Hamburg
1997 · Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation
2004 · Royal Philharmonic Society Award London (III. String Quartet GRIDO)
2008 · Berliner Kunstpreis & Leone d'oro, Biennale di Venezia (Lifetime Achievement)
2010 · Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse des Verdienstordens of the Federal Republic of Germany
2011 · BBVA "Frontiers of Knowledge" Award for Contemporary Music
2012 · Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
2015 · GEMA German Music Author's Award, Category: Life's Work
Memberships
Akademien der Künste in Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Mannheim and Munich
Academie voor Wetenschapen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van Belgie
Fellow of the Royal College of Music, London (since 2010)
Composer in Residence & Guest Professorships
Lucerne Festival, 2005 Harvard University, 2008 Festival Brücken, 2007 Musikhochschule Basel, 2010 Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin, 2001/02
Biography
1935
Born in Stuttgart on 27 November
1955–1958
Studies at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart: piano with Jürgen Uhde, theory and counterpoint with Johann Nepomuk David
1958–1960
Composition studies with Luigi Nono in Venice
1962
First public appearance as a composer at the Biennale in Venice and at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt
1965
Works at the electronic studio of the University of Ghent; Cultural Prize for Music of the City of Munich
1966–1970
Theory teacher at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart
1968
Composition Prize of the City of Stuttgart
1970–1976
Instructor of music at the Pädagogische Hochschule in Ludwigsburg
1972
Coordinator of the composition studios at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik; Bach Prize of Hamburg
1972–1973
Teaches master class for composition at the University of Basel
1976–1981
Professor of composition at the Musikhochschule in Hanover
1978, 1982
Instructor at the Cursos Latinoamericanos de musica contemporanea in Brazil and in the Dominican Republic
since 1978
Instructor at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik
1981–1999
Professor of composition at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart
1982
Composition seminars in Toronto
1984
Composition seminars in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Tokyo
1986
Week-long seminar in Villafranca, Spain
1987
Workshop in Middelburg, The Netherlands
1988
Workshops in Blonay, Switzerland (with the Ensemble Modern) and Weingarten
1989
Week-long seminars in Oslo and at the Paris Conservatoire
1992
Lectures in St. Petersburg
1993
Courses in Akiyoshidai, Japan; workshop at the Villa Musica, Mainz
1994
Week-long seminar with the Klangforum Wien in Vienna
1997
Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation; workshops in Chicago and Urbana
1998
Workshops in Viitasaari, Finland
1999
Composition seminar at Acanthes in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
2001
Honorary Doctorate of the Musikhochschule Hannover; composition seminars in New York (Columbia University and Princeton University)
2001/02
Fellowship of the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin
2002
Workshop in Porvoo, Finland
2004
Royal Philharmonic Society Award London for the III. String Quartet GRIDO
2005
Composer-in-Residence at the Lucerne Festival
2007
Composer-in-Residence at the Festival "Brücken. Neue Musik in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern"
2008
Fromm Visiting Professor at Harvard University, Cambridge/MA; Berliner Kunstpreis; Leone d'oro of the Biennale di Venezia for his lifetime achievement
2009
Judge of the "Toru Takemitsu Composition Award 2009" in Tokyo; lectures at the University of Music in Beijing and Shenyang
2010
Guest professorship at the Musikhochschule Basel; awarded the Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse des Verdienstordens of the Federal Republic of Germany; Honorary Doctorate of the Musikhochschule Dresden; Fellow of the Royal College of Music
2011
BBVA "Frontiers of Knowledge" Award for Contemporary Music
2012
Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres
2015
GEMA German Music Author's Award (Deutscher Musikautorenpreis) in the category "Life's Work"