Photographer: Alexander Wenzel/Kunstuniversität Graz ©
Christian Utz studied composition, music theory, musicology and piano in Vienna and Karlsruhe from 1990 to 2000. Dieter Kaufmann, Diether de la Motte, Wolfgang Rihm and Erich Urbanner were among his teachers. In 2002 his dissertation titled "Neue Musik und Interkulturalität" got published. In the following, the CD Site portraying the artist was released (Composers' Art Label).
Since autumn 2003 he has been guest professor for music theory and music analysis at the Art University in Graz. Additionally, he is guest conductor for the China Found Music Workshop Taipei Ensemble (Chinese instruments) and artistic director of AsianCultureLink Vienna, which he co-founded in 1999.
Decisive artistic impulse for Utz was his contact with Mauricio Kagel, Luca Francesconi, Brian Ferneyhough and Salvatore Sciarrino, among others. From the start he moved away from common compositional concepts and created a series of inter-media projects within the framework of the series KlangArten on the interface between music and drama. His experience with electronic music integrated into his improvisational and composition concepts when instruments and sounds created in real time through the MAX/MSP computer programme relate to each other.
Intercultural concepts have been central to Utz's compositions since 1998.
Period | Education | Instrument | Teacher | Education Organisation | Location |
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1987 - 1988
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composition, music theory (Russel Smith) | ||||
1989
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composition (Agata Pyzel) | ||||
1989 - 1990
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musical form analysis (Clemens Kühn) | ||||
1989 - 1990
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seminar (Manfred Trojahn) | ||||
1989 - 1990
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lessons (Kay Westermann) | ||||
1990 - 1997
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composition | ||||
1990 - 1997
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composition | ||||
1990 - 1997
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piano-pedagogy | ||||
1990 - 1997
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music theory | ||||
1991 - 2002
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master-courses with Ernst Helmuth Flammer, Mauricio Kagel, Emmy Henz-Diémand (Kl.), Luca Francesconi, Brian Ferneyhough, Salvatore Sciarrino | ||||
1993 - 1994
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Unterricht (Günther Reinhold) | ||||
1993 - 1994
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philosophy | ||||
1993 - 1994
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composition | ||||
1993 - 1997
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Institute for electro-acoustics and experimental music | ||||
1995
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summer academy | ||||
1995
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music theory: completion with two papers on Erwin Schulhoff and Edgar Varèse, Master of Arts | ||||
1997
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diploma | ||||
1997
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diploma composition | ||||
1998
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session du composition | ||||
1998 - 2000
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doctoral studies in musicology (Prof. Manfred Angerer, Prof. Peter Revers), conferment of the title Dr.phil (with distinction) | ||||
1999
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"Stage d'informatique musicale" | ||||
2001
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composition seminar, Künstlerhaus Boswil/Switzerland | ||||
2002
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"Composition Seminar" |
Period | Activity | Organisation | Location |
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1991 - 1995
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founder (with Thomas Dézsy), realisation of different concepts combining musico-dramatical works, composition and improvisation | ||
1993
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performance of the entire piano works of Morton Feldman | ||
1995
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international festival for the contemporary musical performance "Das innere Ohr" (curator, publication of the festival catalogue) | ||
1996 - 1997
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editor | ||
1997
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Computermusik-Workshop, Maribor/Slovenia: teacher | ||
1997
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Zum Beispiel Tantalos: musico-dramatical works in public spaces | ||
1998
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European Foundation of Chinese Music Research CHIME: presentation | ||
1998 - 2000
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Thesis on "Die Musik Tan Duns im Kontext interkultureller Rezeption in neuer westlicher und ostasiatischer Musik seit 1950" | ||
1998 - 2001
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cooperation with Asian artists and ensembles, such as poet Yang Lian, Contemporary Music Ensemble Seoul and Wakatake Gagaku Society Japan, pipa-player Wang Ming and with the China Found Music Workshop - composition for traditional East Asian instruments and mixed castings | ||
1998 - 2002
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AsianCultureLink: founding for making possible cultural exchange with Asian countries | ||
2000
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National Institute of the Arts in Taipei/Taiwan: residence for research, main topic of research: "Das Verhältnis von traditioneller und neuer Musik in Taiwan seit 1970" and compilation of an Internet archive of contemporary Taiwanese music; presentations and seminars about the reception of intercultural compositions; seminars on live electronic music | ||
2000 - 2003
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Ensembles China Found Music Workshop: conductor at international concerts and festivals (Vienna Konzerthaus; Deutschlandfunk, MaerzMusik/Berlin Festival) | ||
2001
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China Found Music Workshop: European tour as conductor with concerts in Cologne (Deutschlandfunk), Vienna and Zagreb (Music Biennale) | ||
2001
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Wakatake Gagaku-Ensemble: cooperation in Projekt Site, elaborated and carried out at Akiyoshidai International Art Village/Japan | ||
2001
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CHIME conference: presentations | ||
2001
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International Isang Yun Academy: presentations | ||
2001 - 2002
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executive producer | ||
2001 - 2002
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cross//roads: conception and series of events with East Asian and European composers (Porgy & Bess) | ||
2002
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China Found Music Workshop: conductor at the opening concert of the "MärzMusik" Festival of the Berliner Festspiele | ||
2002
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UtzMusic Prints Vienna: founding of his own publishing house | ||
2002
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CD releases: "SITE" (instrumental pieces 1999-2001) and "time freeze" (elektronische Musik, 96/02) | ||
2002
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Neue Musik und Interkulturalität. Von John Cage bis Tan Dun (supplements to the musicology archive 51, Franz Steiner publishing house, Stuttgart 2002): publication | ||
2003 - 2004
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guest professorship in music-theory and music-analysis | ||
2004
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ever since contracted professor | ||
2005 - 2006
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teaching assignment at the Department of Music | ||
2007 - 2008
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guest-professorship at the National Chiao-Tung University Taipei (Taiwan) and at the University of Tokyo (Japan) | ||
2008
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publication of the Portrait-CD "transformed" (Spektral Records) | ||
2008 - 2010
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co-editor of the "Lexikon der Systematischen Musikwissenschaft" (Laaber Publishing) | ||
2009
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concerts, presentations, workshops to his own music in Jakarta (Indonesia) | ||
2010
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participation in the symposium "Musik und Sprache in der Musik der Gegenwart" in cooperation with the Institute for music-aesthetics | ||
2011
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guest-professorship in Applied Musicology | ||
2011 - 2013
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co-editor of the "Lexikon Neue Musik" (Metzler Publishing) | ||
2012 - 2013
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teaching at the Department of Music | ||
2012 - 2014
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leading the research-project "A Context-Sensitive Theory of Post-tonal Sound Organization", funded through the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) |
Period | Performance | Composition | Organisation | Location |
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1991
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1993
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Soundways | |||
1994
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1995
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1996
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1998
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Sarah Lawrence College | |||
1999
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1999
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National Concert Hall Taipei (China Found Music Workshop) | |||
2000
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together with the Arditti-Quartett | |||
2001
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together with the Varianti Ensemble | |||
2002
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opening concert at the concert hall of the Arts Academy | |||
2003
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2004
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2005
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2006
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Akademie für Tonkunst | |||
2007
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Asia Pacific Festival Wellington (New Zealand) | |||
2009
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Theater Salihara, Jakarta (Indonesia) | |||
2011
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Klangforum Heidelberg |
Period | Commission | Composition | Commissioner (Organisation) | Commissioner (Person) |
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1995
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Multimediale 4 Karlsruhe | |||
1999
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Kulturtage Lana | |||
2000
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EXPO 2000 Hannover: Austrian cultural programme | |||
2001
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Contemporary Ensemble Korea (traditional Korean and Western instruments) | |||
2002
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Reis&Brot/Duisburg | |||
2003
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Neue Musik in Europa Cologne | |||
2004
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Wiener Konzerthaus | |||
2006
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MaerzMusik Berlin, Berlin Festival | |||
2009
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Theater Salihara, Jakarta (Indonesia) | |||
2011
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Klnagforum Heidelberg | |||
Voix Nouvelles Royaumont | ||||
Period | Award | Composition | Awarding Organisation |
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1993
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Erasmus: scholarship for a student residence in Karlsruhe | ||
1996
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stipendiary at the Künstlerhaus Schloß Wiepersdorf in Berlin, recommended by Mauricio Kagel | ||
1996
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Max-Brand-Prize for electro acoustic music | ||
1997
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promotion | ||
1998
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state scholarship for composition | ||
1999
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Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart: composition prize | ||
1999
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scholarship for a 9-month stay at Künstlerhof Schreyahn | ||
2000
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Fondation Sino-Française Pour l'Education et la Culture (Council for Cultural Planning and Development), Taipei/Taiwan: research scholarship | ||
2001
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Akiyoshidai International Art Village Residence Support Program, Japan: scholarship | ||
2001
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Austrian Research Association: project promotion | ||
2002
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state scholarship for composition | ||
2002
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Austrian Ministry of Education and Arts: financial promotion for CD-distribution | ||
2002
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ever since regular project-sponsorship | ||
2007
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scholarship of the National Council Taiwan | ||
2008
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Austrian Ministry of Education and Arts: financial promotion for CD-distribution | ||
2009
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publication-sponsoring by the Country of Styria | ||
publication-sponsorship |
In my work as a composer, I attempt to thematize "contextuality", or making possible and realising connections, whereby interculturally accentuated contextuality has been in the foreground since 1998. Music can provide a framework in which relationships between art and every-day experience can be brought about, as well as between different aesthetic and cultural identities, between different artistic and other forms of expression. In this feedback to "reality" the art form-specific utopia space or the "unsolved mystery" should of course not be lost. The music should not have a subordinate role in relation to the demands of every-day life, but should make "concrete utopias" truly audible.
"Synthesis" can have something violent about itself in regard to art, against which a concrete utopia can be shown as an independent, non-hierarchical articulation of the individual. In this way, a more complex relation between the elements is possible, as in "controlled" homogenization which tends to cause the identity of the individual to disappear.
All this gains more significance when dealing with interculturalism, or with several cultural identities, traditions, and culturally infused ways of seeing, thinking and hearing. The Japanese philosopher Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945) has thought up concepts with his two terms, "contradictory self-identity" (mujunteki jikodoitsu) and "discontinuous continuity" (hirenzoku no renzoku) which can maybe outline what the aim of my music has been since 1998: "Neither has the identity or the general priority over the difference or the individual nor does the opposite relation have priority. Both are equally primordial and define each other. [...] Time is neither a mere continuity nor is it an accidental series of instants. Time is much more the dialectic simultaneousness of continuity and discontinuity. You and I are neither simultaneously simply identical, nor are we absolutely separate from each other. The discontinuous continuity refers to an in-between space which rejects extremes, calling them false simplifications."
Rolf Elberfeld, Christian Utz
2003
The "Unsichtbare Theater" written by Christian Utz for a maximum line-up is another fine example for how the live-electronic functions are just as a speeding up and transforming the sound. [...] The electronic elements produce a more superficial effect, as Utz teems with expressive energy and fantasy.
Aargauer Zeitung
20. November 2001
The impression given by the world premiere of 'Kreise-Yuan' for soprano (highly virtuoso: Angelika Luz), instruments and recording, a composition written in 1999 by Christian Utz, was even more expressive. Thereby he wanted to create a kind of 'music language constellation', in which poems by Yang Lian, Bo Juyi and Christine Huber are assigned clear musical parts and a process of renewal and revival is set in motion. Precisely the polyphonic dialogue and sound combinations were fastidiously elaborated.
Badisches Tagblatt
16. February 2001
Utz evokes through the joining of exotic instruments such as the pipa and the shakuhachi, as well as through constant glissandi of strings and winds, a psychedelic sound atmosphere, like a trip into the deeper layers of consciousness; a true proof of talent.
Stuttgarter Zeitung
13. February 2001
Christian Utz was successful in combining Japanese and European art music in "Kreise - Yuan" for soprano, instruments and recording (1999). The hinges which join the East to the West are so finely built, so subtle in their harmonic ability to bind, that the captions "Polymorphie I-V" and "Insel 1, 2, 3" become self-explanatory. The piece is also a gentle liaison of eastern and western melodic structures, finely spun by Angelika Luz (soprano).
Stuttgarter Nachrichten
19. June 1999
The composer, who lives in both Vienna and Taiwan, explored the "field of tension between Western and Eastern cultures" in about 20 minutes. His trip with the four stages of darkness, wonder, days and path not only heeds wanderlust, but also homesickness, between West and East; a trip within. In three stations between scattered intersections, each of three quartet musicians becomes a speaker and drummer. They exchanged their classical instruments for such instruments as rain stick, lamellophone, Peking opera gong and cymbals.
The group wants to appear confusing at first, but in the end Christian Utz opts for a calm sound stratum. He follows the Taoist wisdom that great music has little sound. This aesthetic twist had a fascinating effect.
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung
7. June 1999
The collection of live recordings of Christian Utz's works surprises through a clear, rhythmic tonal language with a profound impact without any misunderstandings - something highly uncommon in contemporary music. [...] The kaleidoscope of differing texts and sources [...] is proof of how Christian Utz confidently employs language. [...] He trusts the strength of the foreign material and the lack of all too Western opposing poles leaves the comparison of the very self-sufficient test and music levels much space and time.
Dissonanz/Dissonance 80 (Rico Gruber)
Éloignement was the title of this work, which exists in several versions. [...] a space sound action creating an amazing listening experience. The first part focused on pure music. Jan Czaijkowski played the 27 mostly minute particles of the concert version of "Éloignement", here termed "Quarks". These are tensely charged sediments, very expressive, seldom lyrical, often hot-tempered, and marked by clear themes or motifs, often doted with hammering rhythms. The 20-year-old composer [...] takes complete advantage of [...] the key spectrum of the piano. The presentation of the simultaneous performance of two arrangements for flute and piano was extensively complex, and each included electronic music. Utz set the timing, the order of the parts was decided by the performers. Camilla Hoitenga's and Jan Czajkowski's renditions were offset by sounds and projections of the instrumental sounds, to which gestures and poses (such as lying down or walking) were added, leading to an enormous density of material. [...] Hefty applause from the small audience signified a clearly positive reception.
Landeszeitung, Niedersächsisches Tageblatt fr die Lüneburger Heide
Projects/Diskography: