German Composer York Hoeller Receives Grawemeyer Award
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- German composer York Hoeller
- (© picture-alliance / dpa)
It was announced on Monday, November 30, 2009, that German composer York Hoeller has won the $200,000 Grawemeyer Award for composition, which is given by the University of Louisville. He received the award for his composition Sphaeren (Spheres), a six-movement work for orchestra.
The Grawemeyer Awards are five annual $200,000 prizes, given at the University of Louisville, which honor individuals and teams in five fields – fields of music, political science, psychology, education and religion. The awards were created by industrialist, entrepreneur, astute investor and philanthropist H. Charles Grawemeyer in 1984.
Hoeller’s piece was one of 136 entries worldwide. The composer worked on Spheres for five years before it was debuted with the West German Broadcasting Corp.’s symphony orchestra in Cologne, Germany, in 2008.
According to the Grawemeyer Award website, the 40-minute, six-movement piece was inspired by literature, music of the past and the elements of air, water, earth and fire from Greek philosophy.
Born in Leverkusen in 1944, Hoeller is professor emeritus of music composition at the Cologne University of Music and was formerly artistic director of the Studio for Electronic Music of the West German Radio (WDR). He is known for incorporating modernist techniques and electronic sounds into his works, which include the opera, The Master and Margarita, based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov; orchestral works; chamber and piano music; as well as electronic and live-electronic compositions.
A recording of the award-winning composition Spheres will be commercially released on CD in April.
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