Simon Steen-Andersen
Simon Steen-Andersen (b. 1976) is one of the leading Danish composer of his generation. His works are listed and sent to radio in over 25 countries. Composer’s works are played at festivals all over the world, including the Ultima several times, including when the ensemble performed works Asamisimasa rerendered and self-reflecting next two Besides Besides in 2007. Steen-Andersen, himself a well traveled man, and he has been living in Aarhus, Paris, Freiburg, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen and Rome. He moved to Berlin in January 2010, where he has been a year in the prestigious Berliner Künstlerprogramm under the auspices of the academic support agency DAAD.
Steen-Andersen is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, where he graduated in 2003. In the study period he had a stay at the Music Academy in Freiburg under the composer Mathias Spahlinger, wich became very important for his future career. He has also studied in Buenos Aires and Copenhagen.
When Steen-Andersen graduated from the conservatory in 2003, he wrote in a manifesto about his own artistic standpoint what he calls his own development “for a movement ‘against a concerned attitude toward art music’ – but just to note a positive concern.” Concern has to do with recognizing the responsibility we have as a composer, “and as a natural reaction to the conviction that things make a difference.”
In 2000 he won the then 24 year old composer Holmboe Contests, a composer competition in Denmark, with the work Strygekvartet. This work had an expressive, gestural and extrovert expression. Steen-Andersen’s music has since been in a much more subdued direction full of nuances, but at the same time it is virtuosic, expressive and colorful present in his music.
In his last works are barely audible sounds subjected to an extreme boost – almost as if the instruments are placed under a microscope. With this, the sounds that are usually not heard or are well hidden an integral part of an intense sound. Often they are reinforced with non-amplified music played as high as possible on muted instruments.
Administration Drownwords (2003) consists of the word ‘word’ in five different languages: Icelandic, German, Romanian, Arabic dialect and Quran-Arabic. Steen-Andersen writes in the program comments: “The word ‘word’ occupies a special position in the language as it largely points back on itself, forming a closed circle and powers as to be both concrete substantially as a word and definitely not-out-of -to-self-referring. It does himself. “The work has premiered at the Ultima, the House of Literature on Saturday 12 September.
Composer’s manifesto of 2003 is also concerned with language. He uses here the spoken language as a metaphor for the relationship between the musical language and musical content. He does not think it makes sense to talk about “the story being told,” regardless of the language the story is told with “I believe that the two can not be separated from each other. One must not ignore the fact that the language or language style even tells a story that can be just as important as – and often a prerequisite or prevention of – what is being told. “
Meta:
h3. In the program
12. September: Conversation with Simon Steen-Andersen
12. September: Silje Marie Aker Johnsen, soprano
13. September: Oslo Sinfonietta
16. September: Håkon Stene, percussion
18. September: Solmund Nystabakk, guitar
Links
Website with complete list of works
Profile of State Art in Denmark