Biography

Peter EÖTVOS

Work(s)

" Seven "

for violin and orchestra

Editions Schott

(Székelyudvarhely / Transylvania, 1944)

Peter Eötvös,was born on January 2, 1944 at Székelyudvarhely (Transylvania),he was admitted to the Academy of Music at Budapest at the age of 14 on the advice of Zoltán Kodály. In 1966, he received an academic grant and went to Cologne to study management at the Hochschule für Musik. Between 1968 and 1976, he played regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble, and from 1971 to 1979, worked in collaboration with the electronic studio of the WDR in Cologne. In 1978, at the invitation of Pierre Boulez, he conducted the inaugural concert of IRCAM in Paris, before being appointed head of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, a position he held until 1991.

In 1980, Eötvös made his debut at the Proms in London. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the SWR Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, BBC Symphony (1985-1988), the Budapest Festival Orchestra (1992-1995) and Orchestra Budapest Philharmonic (since 1998), and also holds the position of Principal Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of Radio Hilversum (1994). In 1991, he founded the International Institute Peter Eötvös for young conductors and composers. From 1992 to 1998 he was professor at the Conservatory in Karlsruhe, and at the Cologne Conservatory until 2001. He has been teaching at the Conservatory in Karlsruhe since 2002.

Eötvös has received many awards and numerous international prizes including the Prix Bartok (Hungary, 1997), Christoph and Stephan Kaske Prize (Germany, 2000), the Kossuth Prize (Hungary, 2002), the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award in 2002 and the SACD Prix The winner in the catergory in the "Music Prize" in 2002. Eötvös has been a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin since 2000, the Art Academy in Budapest Szechenyi and the Academy of Arts of Saxony in Dresden. In addition, the French Minister of Culture made him Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1998 and Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2003, and MIDEM awarded him the Cannes Classical Award for "Best Living Composer" in 2004. In 2007 he was awarded the Music Prize of Frankfurt.

Recent compositions by Peter Eötvös have won major international success. His works are performed by the most prestigious ensembles, including "zeropoint" created by the London Symphony Orchestra in 1999, "IMA" created by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne in 2002 and "Jet Stream" performed for the first time by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London in 2003. Eötvös is working with major symphony orchestras of European radio stations and internationally with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Japan Philharmonic.

In recent years, Eötvös has become more productive in the field of musical theater. His second grand opera "Le Balcon" by Jean Genet's play, commissioned by the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in collaboration with the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, is created with great success by the Ensemble Intercontemporain in July 2002 as part of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Another great success is celebrated by Peter Eötvös's opera Angels in America based on the play of the same name created by Tony Kushner at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris in November 2004. The creation is followed by performances in Hamburg in 2005, in Boston and Amsterdam in 2006, in Berlin in 2007, in Fort Worth / Texas in 2008 and the Frankfurt Opera in 2009.


Among the latest works by Eötvös is the violin concerto "Seven", written as a memorial to the astronauts of the shuttle Columbia.

NOTICE


The disaster of the space shuttle Columbia on 1 February 2003, was a dramatic event that affected me a lot. In particular, the image broadcasted on TV,of an empty,intact astronaut helmet, part of the debris found on the ground, symbolized the tragedy of this accident in which seven people were killed, just before the shuttle was to return to Earth.

I had been thinking for a long time about writing a violin concerto. In the light of the tragedy of the 28th Space Shuttle Mission, I retook up this idea and the violin concerto as a musical dialogue between soloist and orchestra, seemed particularly appropriate to give a musical form to the memory of the killed astronauts.

Each of the seven astronauts received his dedicated personal pace. The composition itself reflects the representation of their personalities, for example with memories of the musical cultures of Kalpana Chawla, U.S. astronaut born in India, and Ilan Raman, the first Israeli in the world.

The number seven sets the musical structure and rhythm of the work and also describes the basic principle of composition: 49 players are divided into seven groups. In addition to the violin soloist, there are 6 other violins scattered around the room, similar to seven satellites or souls ringing and hovering in space.

The violin concerto, Seven, is a great, very personal monologue and musical expression of my sympathy for the seven astronauts who lost their lives for the exploration of the universe and for the realization of a human dream.


The work is represented for the first time in September 2007 at the Lucerne Festival with violinist Akiko Suwanai and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the direction of Pierre Boulez.In August 2008, the new opera Eotvos "Love and other demons" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was created for the Festival of Glyndebourne.

" Concerto for Acoustical Piano, Keyboard and Orchestra "

concerto

Peter Eötvös, born January 2, 1944 at Székelyudvarhely (Transylvania), was admitted to the Academy of Music in Budapest at the age of 14 years on the advice of Zoltán Kodály. In 1966, he received an academic grant and went to Cologne to study conducting at the Hochschule für Musik. Between 1968 and 1976, he played regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble, and from 1971 to 1979, worked with the electronic studio of the WDR in Cologne. In 1978, at the invitation of Pierre Boulez, he conducted the inaugural concert of IRCAM in Paris, before being appointed head of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, a position he held until 1991.


In 1980, Eötvös made his debut at the Proms in London. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the SWR Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, BBC Symphony (1985-1988), the Budapest Festival Orchestra (1992-1995) and Orchestra Budapest Philharmonic (since 1998), and he also holds the position of Principal Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of Radio Hilversum (1994). In 1991, he founded the Peter Eötvös International Institute for young conductors and composers. From 1992 to 1998 he was professor at the Conservatory in Karlsruhe, and at the Cologne Conservatory until 2001. Since 2002, he again taught at the Conservatory in Karlsruhe.


Eötvös has received many awards and numerous international prizes including the Prix Bartok (Hungary, 1997), the Christoph and Stephan Kaske Prize (Germany, 2000), the Kossuth Prize (Hungary, 2002), the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award in 2002 and the SACD Prize, the highest award in the category "Music Prize" in 2002. Since 2000, Eötvös is a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin, the Art Academy Szechenyi in Budapest and the Academy of Arts of Saxony in Dresden. In addition, the French Minister of Culture appointed him Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1998 and Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2003, and the MIDEM awarded him the Cannes Classical Award for "Best Living Composer" in 2004. In 2007 he was awarded the Music Prize of Frankfurt.


Recent compositions by Peter Eötvös won major international success. His works are performed by the most prestigious ensembles, including "zeropoint" created by the London Symphony Orchestra in 1999, "IMA" created by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne in 2002 and "Jet Stream" performed for the first time by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London in 2003. Eötvös works with the major symphony orchestras of European radio stations and internationally with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Japan Philharmonic.
These recent years, Eötvös proves to be more productive in the field of musical theater. His second grand opera "Le Balcon" taken from Jean Genet's play, commissioned by the Festival of Aix-en-Provence in collaboration with the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, is created with great success by the Ensemble Intercontemporain in July 2002 as part of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. Another great success peformed by Peter Eötvös is his opera Angels in America based on the play of the same name created by Tony Kushner created at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris in November 2004. The creation is then followed by performances in Hamburg in 2005, in Boston and Amsterdam in 2006, in Berlin in 2007, in Fort Worth / Texas in 2008 and the Frankfurt Opera in 2009.


Among the latest works by Eötvös is the violin concerto "Seven", written as a memorial to the astronauts of the space shuttle Columbia. The work is represented for the first time in September 2007 at the Lucerne Festival with violinist Akiko Suwanai and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under the direction of Pierre Boulez. In August 2008, the new opera of Eötvös "Love and Other Demons" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is created at the Glyndebourne Festival.