Moritz Eggert

Moritz Eggert (born November 25, 1965 in Heidelberg) is a German composer and pianist.

Life

Moritz Eggert began his studies in piano and composition in 1975 at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt (with Wolfgang Wagenhaeuser and Claus Kühnl), at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt (with Leonard Hokanson) and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (with Wilhelm Killmayer). Later he continued his piano studies with Raymund Havenith and Dieter Lallinger, and his composition studies with Hans-Jürgen von Bose in Munich. In 1992 he spent a year in London as a post-graduate composition student with Robert Saxton at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Moritz Eggert has covered all genres in his work – his oeuvre includes 7 operas as well as ballets and works for dance and music theatre, often with unusual performance elements. 1997 German TV produced a feature-length film portrait about his music.

As a pianist he regularly collaborates with many artists, as soloist with orchestra, as chamber music partner in various formations and as a Lied accompanist. In 1996 he presented the complete works for piano solo by Hans Werner Henze for the first time in one concert, in 1989 he was a prizewinner at the International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music.

As a composer Moritz Eggert has been awarded with prizes like the composition prize of the Salzburger Osterfestspiele, the Schneider/Schott, the "Ad Referendum"-prize in Montréal, the Siemens Förderpreis for young composers, and the Zemlinsky Prize. 2003 he became a member of the “Bayerische Akademie der Schoenen Kuenste”.

In 1991 he founded - together with Sandeep Bhagwati - the A*Devantgarde festival for new music, which will take place for the 9th time in June 2007.

His concert-length cycle for piano solo, "Haemmerklavier", is among his best known works and has been performed around the world.

Moritz Eggert has written 7 operas and several more works for music and dance theatre. His last opera, “The Snail”, was performed in Mannheim (directed and written by Hans Neuenfels).

His large “soccer oratorio” for the Ruhrtriennale 2005 and the Soccer World Championship in Germany 2006 experienced widespread media coverage in German as well as foreign media.

Moritz Eggert created the opening ceremony for the 2006 FIFA World Cup (together with director Christian Stueckl and stage designer Marlene Pohley) and is currently working on a new opera for the Beethovenfest and the Bonn opera house (“Freax”, together with librettist Hannah Duebgen, premiere September 2007, director: Christoph Schlingensief). A collage of all 22 Mozart operas (“Orale Pole Mazy Brats”) for 4 singers, speaker and orchestra for the opening concert of the Salzburger Festspiele 2006 has recently been broadcast live on TV in all of Europe. There are currently 6 new productions of Eggert’s operas in several different cities in Germany and Switzerland in the season of 2006/2007.

Cultural Interests

Mr. Eggert enjoys reading the long running and highly acclaimed Cerebus the Aardvark graphic novel stories by Dave Sim.

He is an avid board game player, and regular contributor to The Dice Tower podcast, a podcast about all aspects of boardgaming, and also the podcast "Point 2 Point," a gaming podcast that focuses exclusively on wargames [1].

Works

Opera and music theatre

• Das Mahl des Herrn Orlong (Oper für Schauspieler, 1988)
• Paul und Virginie (Puppenoper, 1990)
• Wir sind daheim (Kammeroper, 1991, 1998)
• Lunu (Abstrakte Oper 1992)
• Helle Nächte (Große Oper, 1997)
• Der Andere (Kurzoper, 2000)
• Dr. Popels fiese Falle (Children's Opera, 2002)
• The last days of the V.I.R.U.S. (Opera, 2003)
• Die Schnecke (Opera, 2004)

Dance theatre and ballet

• Avec ma main brulée (Performance, 1997)
• Flüchtige Begegnungen (Dance Theatre, 1997)
• Gegenwart, ich brauche Gegenwart (Dance Theatre, 1997)
• Ein Besuch im Bergwerk (Dance Theatre, 1999)
• The Trap (Bühnenmusik, 1999)
• Millennium Shuffle (Dance Theatre, 1999)
• Im Sandkasten (Dance Theatre, 2000)
• Auf der Suche nach dem KlaNNg (Hörspiel, 2001)

Chamber music

• Kleine Fluchten (1. String Quartet, 1993)
• Hämmerklavier (for Piano solo, 1994)
• Außer Atem (für 4 Blockflöten und einen Spieler, 1995)
• Bad Attitude (for Cello and Piano, 1995)
• Et in Arcadia Ego (2. String Quartet, 1997)
• Tableau (Bewegung für einen Klarinettisten und Pianisten, 1997)
• Melodie 1.0 (für Violine, Cello und Schreibmaschine, 1998)
• Nemesis (for Drumset solo, 1998)
• Croatoan II (für Streichquartett und Schlagzeug, 1999)
• Fast Forward (for Cello and Piano, 1999)
• Continuum (for Cello and Piano, 2000)
• Vermillion Sands (für Gitarre, 2000)
• Narziss (für Sopranblockflöte und Schlagzeug, 2001)
• La Risposta (für Cello and Keyboard, 2002)
• pong (for Septet, 2002)
• Riff (für zwei E-Gitarren mit Effektgeräten, 2002)
• Symphonie 2.0 (für 4 Kazoos mit beliebigen Instrumenten, 2002)
• Ostinato (für Orgel solo, 2003)
• Processional: Fanfaren/Signale (for Trumpet solo, 2003)

Orchestral work

• Die 12 Schläge der Sonnenuhr (für Kammerorchester, 1986)
• Vexations (für Kammerorchester, 1993)
• Adagio (für 32 Streicher, 1996)
• Symphonie 1.0 (für 12 Schreibmaschinen, 1997)
• Number Nine I-III (for Orchestra, 1998)
• Goldberg spielt (for Keyboard and Ensemble, 2000)
• Internet-Symphonie (for Orchestra, 2000)

Vocal music

• Hibernalische Gesänge (for Vocal Quartet, 1997)
• Büchner-Porträt (für Bariton und Klavier, 1997)
• Krausseriana (für Bariton und Klavier, 1999)
• Neue Dichter Lieben (Liederzyklus, 2000)
• ausklang (für Bariton und Klavier, 2001)
• Die Kriegsirre (für Mezzosopran und Klavier, 2001)
• wide unclasp (Liederzyklus für Frauenstimme und Jazz-Ensemble, 2002)
• Paradies Berlin (Liederzyklus, 2002–03)
• Ein Dichter stirbt (für Tenorbariton und Klavier, 2004)

External links

• Moritz Eggert in the German National Library catalogue (German)
• Official Website of Moritz Eggert
• Official Website of A*DEvantgarde Festivals
• Audio-Interview with Moritz Eggert in Neurotainment Podcast Teil 1^{[dead link]}
• Audio-Interview Teil 2^{[dead link]}
• Moritz Eggert composer profile at Schott Music
• Moritz Eggert composer profile at Sikorski

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Name	Eggert, Moritz
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Date of birth	November 25, 1965
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