Composer Seminar

Every summer, Academy Director Wolfgang Rihm conducts together with Dieter Ammann a two-week Composer Seminar. During the first week, participants discuss their works with Rihm, Ammann and other guests in plenary sessions and in one-on-one discussions. They then go on to study and rehearse their scores with the IEMA-Ensemble and present them in moderated closing concerts.

“You must learn composing through praxis”
Wolfgang Rihm

“One always hears it asserted: ‘Young composers all do the same thing.’ On the other hand, my experience is of different worlds, as if they came from different planets,” says Wolfgang Rihm, describing his impression of the next generation of composers. This variety of voices likewise characterizes the Composer Seminar, which he founded in 2016. Rihm has no desire to prescribe aesthetic dogmas but wants to promote “the articulation of one’s own.” Which is why he consciously chooses “composers from different states of development and consciousness.” He adds: “I gather people together from whom, I believe, a kind of conversation can emerge – a discourse based on different aesthetic and cultural preconditions.”

In the first part, which is open to the public, the composers will discuss their works in a joint meeting. They will subsequently rehearse their scores with the IEMA-Ensemble (International Ensemble Modern Academy) and the young conductors of the Conducting Fellowship in order to present a moderated concert to the Festival public. Thus they will acquire valuable feedback for the practical implementation of their musical ideas.

Wolfgang Rihm director
Dieter Ammann director

Glencore International AG – Partner Composer Seminar

With the friendly support of the RHL Foundation