Isabel Mundry

*1963, Schlüchtern, Hesse

"I understand composing as the capturing in sound of a moment (no matter how long) that is multi-layered, that defines and is defined at the same time, through the musical articulation of my individual auditive faculty. Idea and intent, structural matters and compositional action are three inseparable, interlocking aspects; their temporalness emerges from their relativity. In their particular relation lies the uniqueness of a composition."

Isabel Mundry
Selected Awards
2001 · Advancement Award of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation
2007/08 · First "Capell-Compositeur" at the Staatskapelle Dresden
2011 · Heidelberg Female Composer's Award
2013 · Happy New Ears Prize
2014 · German Composers' Award of the GEMA, Category Solo Concerto
2014 · Christoph und Stephan Kaske Prize
2023 · Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
Further awards include: Berlin Composition Award, Boris Blacher Award, Schneider Schott Award, Busoni Award, Kranichstein Music Award
Memberships
Academies of Arts in Berlin, Mainz and Munich
Composer in Residence & Fellowships
Lucerne Festival, 2003 Staatskapelle Dresden, 2007/08 Takefu Festival, Japan, 2009/14/17 Suntory Hall Summer Festival, Tokyo, 2022 Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin, 2002/03 Civitella Ranieri Foundation, 2019 Cinepoetics, FU Berlin, 2017
Biography
1963
Born in Schlüchtern, Hesse on 20 April; raised in West Berlin
1983–1991
Studies composition with Frank-Michael Beyer and Gösta Neuwirth at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin, and electronic music at the Studio of the Technische Universität; also takes courses in musicology (with Carl Dahlhaus), art history and philosophy at the Technische Universität Berlin
1986–1993
Teaching assignment for composition and analysis at the Berlin Kirchenmusikschule and at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin
1991–1994
Further composition studies with Hans Zender in Frankfurt
1992–1994
Stay in Paris: first with a scholarship from the Cité des Arts, later at IRCAM (as part of a one-year course in information technology and composition)
1994–1996
Free-lances in Vienna
1996–2004
Professor of composition at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt
1997
Teaches at the Akiyoshidai Festival, Japan
1998–2023
Teaches composition at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (1998, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2018, 2021, 2023)
2001
Advancement Award of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation
2002/03
Fellowship of the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin
2003
Composer in Residence at the Lucerne Festival
since 2004
Professor of composition at the Musikhochschule Zürich
2007/08
First "Capell-Compositeur" at the Staatskapelle Dresden
2009/14/17
Composer in Residence at the Takefu Festival, Japan
2011
Heidelberg Female Composer's Award
since 2011
Professor of composition at the Musikhochschule Munich
2013
Happy New Ears Prize
2014
German Composers' Award of the GEMA, category Solo Concerto; Christoph und Stephan Kaske Prize
2017
Fellowship of the Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe Cinepoetics at the FU Berlin
2019
Fellowship of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Italy
2020
Scholarship at the Wilhelm Kempff Kulturstiftung Positano
2022
Artiste Étoile at the Mozartfest Würzburg; Composer in Residence at the Suntory Hall Summer Festival, Tokyo
2023
Awarded the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art