Biographies

A Polish composer born December 6, 1933 in Czernica, who died October 12, 2010 in Katowice (Poland).

A violinist by training, Henryk Gorecki studied composition at the Katowice Music Academy with Bolesław Szabelski, then in Paris, where he met Pierre Boulez, and in Germany with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Subsequently he never left Poland, impregnating his works with the culture and soul of his native land. 

A French composer born December 8, 1930 in Château-Thierry.

Alain Weber studied at the Paris Conservatory, notably with René Challan (harmony), Noël Gallon (counterpoint and fugue), Tony Aubin (composition) and Olivier Messiaen (analysis and musical philosophy). In 1952 he won the Prix de Rome as well as the Prix Sogeda for his ballet Le petit jeu (1951).

A Belgian composer born February 23, 1960.

Claude Ledoux studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and music at the Royal Liège Conservatory in Belgium. In 1980 came a decisive meeting with Tristan Murail. Claude Ledoux obtained a masters degree in music sciences at Liège University after following classes in musical analysis with Célestin Deliège and in composition with Frédéric Rzewski, Philippe Boesmans and Henri Pousseur.

A French composer born December 10, 1962 near Lyon.

A cellist by training, Philippe Gouttenoire studied at the École Nationale de Musique in Villeurbanne with Antoine Duhamel, then at the Lyons Conservatory, notably with Raffi Ourgandjian, Gilbert Amy and Jean-Louis Florentz.

A French composer born August 7, 1959.

A German and Swiss composer born January 1st, 1960.

Hanspeter Kyburz studied composition with Alexandra Dobrowolsky and Gösta Neuwirth in Graz and then at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin (1982-1990) with Gösta Neuwirth and Frank Michael Beyer, before taking advanced classes with Hans Zender in Frankfurt (1990-1993).

A British composer and conductor born September 8, 1934 in Manchester (United Kingdom) who died March 14, 2016 In Orkney Islands (Scotland).

After studying at the Royal Manchester College of Music (1952-1956) and at Manchester University, Peter Maxwell Davies pursued his studies in Rome with Goffredo Petrassi, then at Princeton in the USA (1962-1964), notably with Milton Babitt.

A Swiss composer born November 30, 1924 in Bern, died October 2, 2017 in Perugia (Italy).

A violinist by training, Klaus Huber studied composition at the Zurich Conservatory with Willy Burkhard, then in Berlin with Boris Blacher. Having taught the violin at the Zurich Conservatory (1950-1960), he directed successively the composition classes of the Musikakademie in Basel and of the Musikhochschule in Fribourg-in-Brisgau.

A German composer, stage director and artistic director born August 17, 1952 in Neustadt / Weinstrasse (Germany).

With a diploma in sociology and music from the University of Frankfurt, Heiner Goebbels is one of the representatives of music theatre. He draws on varied forms of artistic expression, from Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht as well as his earliest experiences in the domains of experimental rock, jazz and the extreme leftwing wind band the Sogenannten Linksradikalen Blasorchester that he founded in 1976.