Oscar Strasnoy

Oscar Strasnoy (born November 12, 1970) is a French-Argentine composer, conductor and pianist.^[1] Although primarily known for his nine stage works, the first of which Midea (2) premiered in Spoleto in 2000, his principal compositions also include a secular cantata and several song cycles.

Career

Oscar Strasnoy was born in Buenos Aires and studied piano, conducting and composition there at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música (with Aldo Antognazzi and Guillermo Scarabino), at the Conservatoire de Paris (with Guy Reibel, Michaël Levinas and Gérard Grisey), where he won in 1996 a Premier Prix à l’Unanimité (first prize) and the Hochschule für Musik, Frankfurt (with Hans Zender). He was the Music Director of the Orchestre du Crous de Paris (1996–1998). He was one of the founding recipients of the Grüneisen Foundation (Mozarteum Argentino) conducting scholarship,^[2] and of the French Government Scholarship. In 1999 he was invited by Peter Eötvös to Herrenhaus-Edenkoben in Germany.^[3]

Luciano Berio awarded him the 2000 Orpheus Prize for his chamber opera Midea (2) produced at the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto in 2000 and at the Rome Opera in 2001.^[4] He was also artist in residence at the Akademie Schloß Solitude in Stuttgart, in 2003 at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto (Institut français), and in 2006 at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbria, Italy.^[5] In 2007 he received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for Music Composition.^[6]

Compositions

Oscar Strasnoy has composed nine stage works, including operas peformed at Spoleto, Rome, Reims, Rennes, Paris Opéra Comique,)^[7] Luxembourg, Hamburg, and the Festival d'Aix en Provence); a live-accompanied silent film score for Anthony Asquith's Underground which premiered at the Louvre in 2004 and was subsequently played at the Cine Doré in Madrid, the Mozarteum Argentino, Kyoto, and Tokyo) and a secular cantata, Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K). He also composed several pieces of chamber, vocal and orchestral music, including his song cycle Six Songs for the Unquiet Traveller which premiered in 2004 performed by the Nash Ensemble and Ann Murray in a concert to inaugurate the newly refurbished Wigmore Hall in London.^[8]

In January 2012 a retrospective of his work in 17 concerts will be presented at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris as part of the Festival Présences of Radio France. Strasnoy's works are primaril published by Chant du Monde (Paris) and Billaudot (Paris). His opera Midea is published by Ricordi (Milan).^[9]

Principal works

• "Midea" (opera, premièred in Spoleto, 2000)
• "Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B und K)" (cantata, premièred in Edenkoben, 2000)^[10]
• "Opérette" (based on Witold Gombrowicz's play, premièred in Reims, 2003)^[11]
• "Geschichte", (operetta a cappella based on Witold Gombrowicz's play, premièred in Stuttgart, 2004)
• "Six Songs for the Unquiet Traveller" (on texts by Alberto Manguel, premièred in London, 2004)
• "Underground", music for the 1928 silent film by Anthony Asquith (premièred in Paris, 2004)^[3]
• "Fabula", musical-theater (premièred in Buenos Aires, 2005)
• "Scherzo" (Sum nº 3, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2006)
• "The End" (Sum nº 4, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2007)
• "L'instant", (opera, premièred in Paris, 2008)
• "Quodlibet" (song cycle, premièred in Stuttgart, 2008)^[11]
• "Le Bal" (opera based on Irène Némirovsky's The Ball, libretto by Matthew Jocelyn, premièred in Hamburg, Opera-House, March 2010)
• "Un Retour" (chamber opera based on Alberto Manguel's novel El Regreso, premièred at Festival d'Aix en Provence, France, July 2010)^[12]
• "Cachafaz" (opera based on Copi's play, premièred at Théâtre de Cornouaille, Quimper, France, Nov. 2010)^[7]
• "Heine" (song cycle on poems by Heinrich Heine, premièred in Metz, France, Nov. 2010)
• "Incipit" (Sum nº 1, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2012)
• "Y" (Sum nº 2, for orchestra, premièred in Paris, 2012)
• "Dido and Aeneas" (opera based on Henry Purcell's opera), for seven singers, two pianos, two brass instruments and two percussion players. Premièred in Paris, January 2012.

References

1. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2008) p. 183
2. ^ Mozarteum Argentino. Scholarhips
3. ^ ^{a b} de la Fuente (28 July 2010)
4. ^ Associated Press (9 March 2000); Istituzione Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto. “Orpheus Competition” winning operas
5. ^ Civitella Ranieri Foundation. List of Fellows. Retrieved 10.6.2011
6. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2008) p. 183. See also Guggenheim Foundation website. Retrieved 10.6.2011
7. ^ ^{a b} Mudge (March 2011)
8. ^ Service (12 October 2004)
9. ^ Casa Ricordi. Midea
10. ^ France Musique (16 February 2011)
11. ^ ^{a b} La Nación (9 August 2008)
12. ^ France Today (5 July 2010)

Sources

• Associated Press (9 March 2000). "Young Argentinean composer wins Italian opera prize" (subscription required)
• de la Fuente, Sandra (28 July 2010). "Oscar Strasnoy: «La música pura ya no es suficiente»" (interview with Oscar Strasnoy). Clarín (Spanish)
• France Today (5 July 2010). "Live from Aix: World premiere of Un Retour"
• France Musique (16 February 2011) Concert du soir (French)
• La Nación (9 August 2008). "Muchos compositores son ignorantes" (interview with Oscar Strasnoy) (Spanish)
• Mudge, Stephen J. (March 2011). "Cachafaz, Paris, Opéra Comique, 12/13/10". Opera News,Vol. 75, No. 9
• Service, Tom (12 October 2004). "Review: Nash/Kildea, Wigmore Hall, London". The Guardian
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2008) Reports of the president and of the treasurer

External links

• Official website
• List of Oscar Strasnoy's scores published by Chant di Monde, Paris
• Oscar Strasnoy page at the music publishers Billaudot, Paris

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Name	Strasnoy, Oscar
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Date of birth	November 12, 1970
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