Fabio Nieder: Music Project 2015

 

There are composers who offer no surprises from one piece to another, which may be reassuring for their commissioners. I cannot accept certain conditions, like for example: ‘compose’, ‘pieces’ etc. Until now, I have always made use of music writing as a possible dimension in which to think in music, organise worlds, grasp visions and discover places. However, I do not intend to accept music writing as a permanent and unchangeable element. The history of European music is also the history of music writing. Other musical civilisations make precious little use of writing, and the figure of the composer is identified with that of the vocal or instrumental performer. A sentiment guides me and leads me to say that all this world of ours is my home; all the musical variety of the various civilisations and cultures is also mine, or at least this is how I might wish it could be. These musical cultures are the expression of various societies and histories. I was born and bred in Europe, and this fact has influenced my attitude to music. I will never be an Indian tablas player, but I can learn the languages, identify with the various cultures and vibrate in harmony with other expressions of humanity, or in a word: love! Composing ‘pieces’ satisfies me only relatively. I would like to conceive and create not pieces but wholes. Yet since by those who consider me a composer, I am considered a ‘piece’, other ‘pieces’ are expected from me. But it shouldn’t be taken for granted that I have to respect these comprehensible yet also debateable conventions. So far, I have understood that I can get deeply in touch with the world and the life of nature and man only through the act of laying down signs. These signs of music writing are largely codified but they may also be changeable and even appear surprising at times. Freedom, even from writing and any other obligation and convention; this is my main aspiration and it always tells me which direction – or directions – to take: parallels, opposites or contraries. Freedom must always reach a compromise: the rules of society, the codes of music writing, musical instruments and the background of those who play them, the use of the human voice in its various functions. But after all, freedom would not be such if it were not capable of razing everything to the ground and flying away wherever it is led by its nostalgia for the beauty of the unknown.

(Fabio Nieder)

Fabio Nieder is composer, pianist, conductor with dual Italian and German citizenship. Precocious talent, he studied at the Trieste Music Conservatory. He studied composition, piano and chamber music with Giulio Viozzi, Roberto Repini, Dario De Rosa and Libero Lana (Trieste Trio) respectively, and then specialized in composition with Witold Lutoslawski. A musician who grew up in the Middle European culture, he developed a special relation with the German Lied; as an assistant pianist he worked several times with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Petre Munteanu, cooperating steadily with several lieder singers such as Alfredo Kraus, Petre Munteanu, Barbara Hannigan and many others. Founder of the Ensemble for New Music «Florestan-Eusebius», which he also conducted and for which he played the piano, he made its debut in 1983 at the «Musikprotokoll» festival in Graz. As conductor he worked with very important groups dedicated to contemporary music, including above all his cooperation with the «Nieuw Ensemble» in Amsterdam, which also played many of his works. His meeting with Luciano Berio, in 1997 in Salzburg, led to an incredible human and artistic relation which then grew into a deep and sincere friendship. Fabio Nieder teaches composition at the Conservatory in Amsterdam and Trieste and in several European Academies (Stuttgart, Tallin, Graz, Ljubljana).

He composes pieces for important ensembles and orchestras including the Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Recherche, Nieuw Ensemble, Atlas Ensemble, Ives Ensemble, ÖENM, Orchestra Nazionale della RAI (Italy), WDR, SWR, SR (Germany) etc. Some of the most important interpreters of his music include important musicians such as Heinrich Schiff, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Barbara Hannigan, Teodoro Anzellotti, Eduard Brunner, Ed Spanjaard, Emilio Pomarico, Marino Formenti, Myung-Whun Chung etc. His works are present in the main festivals and musical institutions, including the Berliner Festwochen, the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Musik der Jahrhunderte (Stuttgart), Musik im 21.Jahrhundert (Saarbrücken), Wien Modern, Musikprotokoll (Graz), Holland Festival, Output Festival (Amsterdam), Huddersfield Festival (UK), La Biennale in Venice, Milan Musica, Nuova Consonanza (Rome), Festival Présences (Paris), Berliner Philharmonie, Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Tonhalle Zürich, Wiener Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan´t Ij Amsterdam, La Scala Theater, La Fenice Theater (Venice) etc.

Fabio Nieder lives in Germany.