Clemens Gadenstätter

Clemens Gadenstätter studied composition under Erich Urbanner and Helmut Lachenmann and performance (flute) at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Gadenstätter’s musical work explores the compositional resynthesis of perception, sensation and feeling, which, in his view, should unite the trinity of listening, understanding and composition. His recent work focuses on the transformation of acoustically triggered, pre-formed feelings in the E.P.O.S. series: les premiers cris, les cris des lumières, les derniers cris for different ensembles; in the essay “HÖREN VERSTEHEN KOMPONIEREN” [LISTENING COMPREHENSION COMPOSITION], daily work and triviality in Semantical Investigations 1 for violin and ensemble, Semantical Investigations 2 for small ensemble, and the essay “Was heißt hier banal“ [What do we mean banal?]). He has also explored the poly-modality of listening in compositions such as platzen/bersten for cello and piano, häuten, schlitzen, reißen, String Quartet 1, 2, and 3, ES, minimal opera for voice, ensemble, and film, as well as musical iconography in the series ICONOSONICS 1–3. At present, Gadenstätter is dedicated to exploring the relationship between music and other media in les cris des lumières for ensemble and light, and the daily transformations for voices, instruments, electronics, video, space, and light – a work realized in collaboration with Anna Henckel-Donnersmark (film) and Lisa Spalt (text). Over the years, he has received several awards and grants: Kompositionspreis der Erste Bank, Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD, Würdigungspreis der Stadt Wien. Festivals and ensembles such as WDR – Cologne, Salzburg Festspiele, Musikbiennale Berlin, Südwestrundfunk Baden-Baden, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Modern have commissioned his works, some of which he is still actively collaborating with.