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Muenz, Harald (b. September 20, 1965, Württemberg). German composer, now resident in both Germany and the UK, of mostly chamber, vocal and electroacoustic works that have been performed throughout Europe and elsewhere; he is also active as a writer.
Mr. Muenz studied sound engineering at the Musikhochschule Detmold from 1986–88 and chamber music and piano with Klaus Oldemeyer, composition with Krzysztof Meyer and electronic music with Hans Ulrich Humpert at the Musikhochschule Köln from 1988–93, where he earned his diploma in composition. He then had post-graduate studies in composition with Helmut Lachenmann at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart from 1994–97. In addition, he has attended lectures by Clarence Albertson Barlow, Johannes Fritsch, Mauricio Kagel, Zygmunt Krauze, György Ligeti, and Emmanuel Nunes.
Among his honors are a fellowship from the Schloss Wiepersdorf (1995), a selected work in the competition Praxis der Neuen Vokalmusik in Stuttgart (1996, for discAntico), the Förderpreis Musik from Nordrhein-Westfalen (1997), and the Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann-Stipendium from the city of Cologne (1997). He has also received a project grant from the Stiftung Kunst und Kultur NRW (1999), a fellowship from the government of Germany for a residency at the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles (2000) and the Forschungspreis from Nordrhein-Westfalen (2001). His music has been performed in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, and the USA, including twice at Darmstadt (1994, 2000), twice by Ensemble Modern (1996, 1998) and twice at Ultraschall in Berlin (2000, 2002). A two-day portrait concert was also given in Cologne (2003) and a portrait by Rainer Nonnenmann, Zu unbegrenzt Räumen und Möglichkeiten... Der Kölner Komponist Harald Muenz, appeared in MusikTexte (2004).
Mr. Muenz is also active in other positions. He has written numerous program notes for public radio since 1992 and has also made translations for both magazines and radio. He has written many articles and edited a book, hin zu einer neuen welt. notate zu Franco Evangelisti (2002, Pfau-Verlag). He also served on the board of directors of the Kölner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik from 1996–2002. He co-founded with Georg Sachse and Sigrid Sachse the vocal/speech sound art trio sprechbohrer in Cologne in 2004 and has since performed with it.
He lectured on aesthetic phonetics at the Universität Köln from 2001–05. He has taught composition and sonic arts as a lecturer in music at Brunel University in London since 2005. He has also given guest lectures throughout Germany.
The Feedback Studio Verlag publishes his music.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-mail address: info@haraldmuenz.de
Fax: + 4922 1952 5484
Website: http://www.haraldmuenz.de/
SELECT LIST OF WORKS
STAGE: exercising, athlete, percussion, 2003; Die Schuhkathedrale (music theatre work, text by Elfriede Czurda), voices, instruments, electronics, film (by Bettina Grossenbacher), 2005–
ORCHESTRAL: tre schizzi, large orchestra (minimum 66 players), 1984; x-rayed x-mas x-tra, large orchestra (60 players), 1994–95
CHAMBER MUSIC: azione triangolare, violin, cello, piano, 1991–92; CITIVS-ALTIVS-FORTIVS, bassoon, percussion, 1992–93; Isn't it romantic?, bassoon, guitar/electric guitar, 1994; standArts, sight-read clarinet, laptop, 1996; ausPlaste (in memoriam Franco Evangelisti), clarinet, trombone, cello, piano, 1996–97; franSung. Ensemblekammermusik zu vierzehnt (vocalise), soprano, flute (+ piccolo), oboe (+ English horn), clarinet, soprano saxophone (+ alto saxophone, bass clarinet), trumpet, trombone, harp, viola, cello, double bass, piano, sampler, percussion, 1997; musik + salon =, 2 synthesizers, 1998 (collaboration with hans w. koch); writing, amplified bass drum (2 players, both + sopranino recorder, grossbass recorder [by Joachim Paetzold]), 2-track tape, 1998; BACH-Maschin', 2 celli, organ, accordion, 1999–2000; ...und weil die da in donaueschingen immer noch töne brauchen, hab' ich sie ihnen halt hingeschrieben..., clarinet, guitar, violin, piano, 2000; miniaturen, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, 1995–2001; il filosofo (vocalise), soprano, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, 2001; ariche, bass flute, random CD, 2001; CD player, 4 Spieler mit laseroptischen Speichermedien, 4 amplified CDs (used like cards; 4 players), 2001
CHAMBER MUSIC: The SelfComposer, sight-read oboe, laptop, 1999–2002; articulated strings, harp, guitar, cello, live electronics, 2002; The Abyss of the Eyes (concert installation), sopranino recorder (+ tenor recorder, sub-contrabass recorder [by Joachim Paetzold]), guitar, piano, live electronics, 2003, revised 2005; dissieme, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, live electronics, 2004; ... con dolcezza ..., flute, clarinet, harp, cello, double bass, piano, live electronics, 2005–06; dietro \/ avanti, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, vibraphone, 2006–07
VOCAL: deChiffrAGE (any random text, generated live), any speaker (+ laptop), 1993; discAntico (texts by St. Francis of Assisi, Andrea Pieroni), 8 mixed voices, 1995; parkfiguren (text by Roza Domascyna), voice, speaker (must be of different gender than the voice), 1996; 'shiftlessness/schiebeproben' (vocalise), soprano, clarinet, synthesizer, live electronics, 1998, revised 1999 (collaboration with hans w. koch); SprachProben (texts from sounds in the moribund languages Arberesh, Istro-Romanian), soprano, female speaker, male speaker, female Wolffsohn voice (voice with an extended range), male Wolffsohn voice, sopranino recorder (+ alto recorder), flute, clarinet, 2-8-track tape, computer, 2001–03; entr'actes (text by the composer), any speaker (+ laptop [with film projector (PowerPoint presentation by the composer)]), 2004; de(ux)ChiffrAGE (any random text, generated live), any 2 speakers (both + laptop), 2004
PIANO: corps d'œuvres, 1996; ope-seynsu, piano, random CD, 2001; schönes klavierstück, 2006
ORGAN: -tulationstòpos (player also speaks word "tulationstòpos"), organ, metronome, 1991
ELECTROACOUSTIC: deSperanto, 2-/4-track tape, 1995–96; tafelmusik I (sound installation), 1998 (collaboration with hans w. koch, Andrea Pieroni); tafelproben (sound installation), 1998 (collaboration with hans w. koch); spi:tschsaontskäip 1 (texts by the composer, Andrea Pieroni), 2 male voices, 2-track tape, 2000; BeethovEnBloc, 2-track tape, 2000; schweigenderest, 2-/4-track tape, 2000–01; BrahmsBloc, 2-track tape, 2001; SILENtplaCES, 2-track tape, 2002; dreimal neunzig sekunden wirklichkeit, 2-track tape, 2002; Žejanski Kntaduri, 2-track tape, 2003; fugaCittà (sound installation), 2003; rieselt stille froh entsprungen, 8-track tape, 2003; Klangsignet for KunstSalon Köln / KunstSalon-Stiftung, 2-track tape, 2004; Hallo, hier spricht Ehrenfeld!, 2-track tape, 2004 (collaboration with Holger Schroers); Ipecacuanha, 2-track tape, 2006
(Last updated on February 21, 2007)
