PORTRAIT OF MIROSLAV SRNKA
Miroslav Srnka became one of the most prominent composers of his generation when the world premiere of his opera Southpole took place at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich in 2016. He teaches composition at Cologne's University for Music. Born in Prague in 1975, he studied musicology at the Karl University there before joining Prague's Theatre and Music Academy to study composition. Prizes include the Siemens Composition Prize. His works, many of them commissioned, have been performed by leading orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, dTokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. His music is heard at festivals including the Lucerne Festival, Ultraschall Berlin, Wien Modern, Présences Paris, the Prague Spring, Musica Musica Strasbourg, Milano Musica, the Printemps des Arts in Monte-Carlo and at Musica viva in Munich. He latest opera, The Voice Killer, was performed for the first time at the Theater an der Wien in June 2025. In Overheating, written in 2018, his music describes this process. He develops kinetic sounds: »What happens when there's too much expanding energy? What happens to seemingly armless music in such situations. His piano trio Emojis, Likes and Ringtones highlights the superficial standardisation of our emotions. Come and find out more about the man and his music at this wonderful event..
The first of four fascinating portraits this season, continuing this series, and cooperation with the Ensemble Modern (EM) and HfMDK, its title coined by John Cage wishing his audiences Happy New Ears, was dedicated to Helmut Lachenmann, one of the most influential German composers of our time, who celebrates his 90th birthday on November 27. A new production of his Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern / Little Matchgirl was performed at Oper Frankfurt ten years ago. Next comes the Czech composer Miroslav Srnka, who has composed several works for music theatre, including South Pole (2016) and Voice Killer, which will be performed for the first time at the Theater an der Wien this June. Then Iris ter Schiphorst who, like Lachenmann and Srnka enjoys a close relationship with the EM,and has performed with various rock bands on keyboard, drums and bass. A student of Luigi Nono and Dieter Schnebel, she was Professor of Media Composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna until 2022. Last, but not least, the British composer Hannah Kendall, who has roots in South American Guyana, represents the younger generation. She was awarded the 2022 Hindemith Prize.
