Composers
Kathrin Denner (*1986)
Her catalogue of works includes solo works, chamber music, ensemble pieces, works for choir and orchestra, and computer music.
Haosi Howard Chen (*1991)
Haosi Howard Chen migrated from Shanghai to the USA as a child, where he completed his bachelor’s degree with a major in composition and piano at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). During his studies, he received scholarships as well as numerous prizes and subsequently served as a music theory instructor at UCLA. He completed his composition master’s studies and soloist examinations with Wolfgang Rihm and Markus Hechtle at the Karlsruhe University of Music with distinction in each case as a scholarship holder of the Landesgraduiertenförderung. He received important impulses and inspirations from Mark Andre, Brian Ferneyhough, Rebecca Saunders, Johannes Schöllhorn and through paintings by Sean Scully and Ralf Gudat, among others. In 2021 he received the Wolfgang Rihm Scholarship, funded by the Hoepfner Foundation, and at the same time also a grant from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation for a composition commission.
As a pianist, he is equally engaged with (premiere) performances of his contemporaries and participated as a chamber musician in the 2016 Darmstadt Summer Courses.
Franz Ferdinand August Rieks (*1998)
Franz Ferdinand August Rieks is a German composer, pianist, music producer and pop music artist (a.k.a. starboy kyoto).
As a prizewinner of the Berliner Philharmoniker, the BR Symphony Orchestra, the International Composition Competition New York, the International Piano Podium Munich, the national competitions Jugend musiziert and Jugend komponiert, the Steinway Klavierspielwettbewerb and others, Franz has given concerts/premieres at the Lucerne Festival, the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, as a Rising Star at the Weingartner Musiktage, at the opening concert of the Upgrade Festival Donaueschingen, at the ARD Hörspieltage/ZKM Karlsruhe, as a soloist at the Staatstheater Mainz and at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse/the Spring Conference for New Music.
Franz was composer in residence at the Beethovenhaus Bonn, newcomer at the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, conducted the Tonkünstler Orchester at the Grafenegg Festival with the world premiere of his symphonic poem, the Ensemble Modern recorded his music on CD at the Komponistenstudio, the Ensemble Musikfabrik dedicated a Composer Collider to him, world premieres by the international Ensemble Modern Akademie and the Studio Musikfabrik. He recorded his debut solo CD with Wergo/Schott Music International.
As a member of the Bundesfachausschuss Zukunftswerkstatt of the Deutsche Musikrat, he is committed to diversity and democratic cultural policy, he is a scholarship holder of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, has received composition commissions from the Kunststiftung NRW, the Badisches Staatstheater for the Europäische Kulturtage, the Musikfabrik and was nominated for the World Music Days.
His teachers are Wolfgang Rihm (currently studying for a Master’s degree in composition), Jörg Widmann, Lothar Zagrosek, Markus Hechtle and Volker David Kirchner. Additional studies with Mark Andre, Vito Zuraj, Brian Ferneyhough and Georges Aperghis.
Prof. Gerhard Müller-Hornbach (*1951)
Gerhard Müller-Hornbach – born in 1951 – is a composer, conductor and educator. He taught as professor of composition and music theory at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main from 1981 to 2016, where he co-founded the Institute for Contemporary Music (IzM) in 2005 and chaired its board of directors until 2016. Until 2018, he was project head of the project “Response – New Music in Schools,” for which the Hessian Ministry of Culture and the HfMDK are responsible. Müller-Hornbach is the founder and artistic director of the MUTARE ENSEMBLE. His compositional output encompasses a wide range of genres, from solo works and chamber music to orchestral compositions and oratorios, music theater works, film music and spatial compositions. In 2009 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon by the German President, and he also received the Rome Prize of the Villa Massimo and the Vaillant Composition Prize of the Bergische Biennale.
Patrick T. Schäfer (*1993)
Patrick T. Schäfer studied composition in Munich, Stuttgart, and Graz with Hans-Jürgen von Bose, Isabel Mundry, Marco Stroppa, and Beat Furrer. He completed his concert exam with distinction under Miroslav Srnka at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.
Schäfer’s work encompasses music for the concert hall, electronic music, film music, theater music, and music theater. His first opera, Letzte Nacht, for soloists, actors, choir, and orchestra—supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation—was added to the repertoire of the Augsburg State Theater in 2017. In 2018, Schäfer received the Augsburg Art Promotion Prize. His second opera, Woman in Labor, premiered in 2021 with Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt.
Schäfer has collaborated with ensembles and institutions such as the SWR Vocal Ensemble, Ensemble Musikfabrik, and Bayerischer Rundfunk. He was a scholarship recipient of the SWR Vocal Ensemble Academy, the “Akademie Musiktheater Heute,” and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. In 2022, he won the 5th Mauricio Kagel Composition Competition in Vienna. Additionally, he received artist residencies from the European Academy of Music and Performing Arts Montepulciano as part of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in Berlin, as well as—on the recommendation of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia—at the Cité des Arts in Paris.
In 2023, he was awarded the Deutschlandfunk Composition Prize and named the winner of the German Music Competition in Composition. He also received the Music Promotion Prize of the District of Swabia.