"You should listen to every piece with new ears."

Contemporary music has to be communicated through reception, because the audience is undoubtedly faced with the problem of not knowing the rules that the music follows. In addition, every composer makes his own. In my compositions, I try to take the listener by the hand. Since a contemporary work is only ever heard occasionally and is not constantly repeated, it is difficult to get to know it better. It is therefore important to incorporate certain aids into the composition: These can be reminiscences, quotations or even repetitions or recurring sounds, which can then make it easier to experience.

John Cage spoke of "happy new ears": you should listen to every piece with new ears. Unfortunately, we too often make the mistake of being afraid of the unfamiliar. Yet the unfamiliar can also be incredibly enriching for us. In music, you should pay particular attention to what is not unfamiliar. Discovering such connections can also make new music exciting.

Source: Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung, "Instructions for listening to new music" from 21 February 2018

Birger Petersen was born on 19 October 1972 in Lübeck.
1992-1996 Studied music theory (Diplom 1996) and composition (Diplom 1997) at the Lübeck University of Music, from 1993 also electronic composition and conducting. 1993/1994 scholarship holder of the Hinrichsen Foundation Lübeck.
1996-2001 doctoral degree programme at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel (musicology, Protestant theology and philosophy); 2001 doctorate. Dissertation: The Melody Theory of the Perfect Capellmeister Johann Mattheson. A study on the paradigm shift in 18th century music theory.
Masterclasses with Prof. Violeta Dinescu (Oldenburg/O.), Prof. Edison Dennisov (Moscow) and Prof. Paul-Heinz Dittrich (Berlin).
2017 Completion of the habilitation process at the Department of History and Cultural Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz: Satzlehre im 19. Jahrhundert. Models with Josef Gabriel Rheinberger.

1995-2004 Cantor and organist at the Evangelical Lutheran Friedenskirche Eutin-Neudorf.
1995-2011 Lecturer in music theory in Lübeck, Rostock, Bremen, Greifswald, Herford and Osnabrück.
2004-2011 Full-time lecturer in music theory at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre, appointed honorary professor in 2008.
2011 academic appointment to a professorship for music theory at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
since 2013 visiting professor at the Institute de Musicologie of the Université de Bourgogne, Dijon.
2014 Vice-Rector, 2015-2017 Rector of the Mainz University of Music.
2017/2018 Senior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald.
2020 Staff of Middlebury University, Vermont (USA).

2004-2011 Founding member and Chair of the Verein für Neue Musik Mecklenburg- Vorpommern e.V.; Managing Director "Brücken. Festival for New Music in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern".
2014-2016 Vice President of the Society for Music Theory.

Since 2013 editor of the magazine "Forum Kirchenmusik".

1991 and 1992 Awards in the national competition "Schüler komponieren"; 1st prize in the competition "Schülerinnen und Schüler machen Lieder".
1993 European Culture Prize of the Amsterdam Futures Exchange; Culture Prize of the Ostholstein District and Cloppenburg Art Promotion Prize.

1994 First prize in the composition competition for the opening of the Musik- und Kongreßhalle Lübeck.
1995 First prize in the alto solo category in the composition competition of the "Wittlicher Woche für Neue Vokalmusik".

2003 Invitation to the Bayreuth Composers' Forum as a guest lecturer.
2005 Composition Prize of the German Music Council for "(sch-) till".
2007 Kulturpreis des Kreises Ostholstein as harpsichordist with the ensemble Musica floreat. 2013 Elected Senior Fellow of the Gutenberg Academy.

Monographs

• The melody theory of the Perfect Capellmeister by Johann Mattheson. A study on the paradigm shift in 18th century music theory, Eutin and Norderstedt 2002 (= Eutiner Beiträge zur Musikforschung vol. 1). ISBN 3-8311-3484-7.
• Academic Music Theory in the Young Federal Republic. Two studies on Wolfgang Jacobi and Roland PloegerEutin and Norderstedt 2006 (= Eutiner Beiträge zur Musikforschung. Neue Folge vol. 5). ISBN 3-8334-6448-8. (together with Christina Petersen.)
• New Music. AnalysesBerlin 2013. ISBN 978-3-940862-57-0.
• Movement theory in the 19th century. Models with RheinbergerKassel 2018 ISBN 978-3-7618-2434- 4.
• The music of the 17th and 18th centuries, Darmstadt 2020 (=Musikwissenkompakt vol. 3). ISBN 978-3-534-27139-9.

Editorships

• Roland Ploeger, Philosophische Abhandlungen und Notizen, Lübeck and Norderstedt 2001. ISBN 3-8330-0356-1.
• Josef Gabriel Rheinberger and his time. The papers of the symposium on the occasion of the 15th International Organ Weeks Eutin 2001Eutin and Norderstedt 2002 (= Eutiner Beiträge zur Musikforschung vol. 2). ISBN 3-8311-3873-7 (together with Martin West.)
• Church Music and Proclamation - Proclamation as Church Music. On the relationship between theology and church music. The papers presented at the Eutin Symposium 2001Eutin and Norderstedt 2003 (= Eutiner Beiträge zur Musikforschung vol. 4). ISBN 3-8311-4465-6 (together with Axel Frieb-Preis.)
• Against time. Roland Ploeger on his 75th birthdayLübeck 2003. ISBN 3-8311-4867-8. (together with Andreas Pieper.)
• Johann Sebastian Bach and the Choral Movement of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Report of the II Symposium on Music Theory at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre 2006 (= Contra- points. Composition and Music Theory at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre vol. 1), Hildesheim 2013. ISBN 978-3-487-15040-6.
• Musical logic and musical context. Music theory and aesthetics in the 19th century. Report of the symposium at the University of the Arts Bremen 2006 (, Hildesheim 2014. ISBN 978-3-487-15135-9. (together with Patrick Boenke.)
• German organ music in the 19th centuryMainz 2014 (= Spektrum Musiktheorie vol. 3). ISBN 978-3-924-52256-8.
• Reception and cultural transfer. German and French music theory after Rameau, Mainz 2016 (= Spektrum Musiktheorie vol. 4). ISBN 978-3-924-52264-3.
• Organ movement and late Romanticism. Organ music between the world wars in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Bonn 2016 (= Studies in organ music vol. 6). ISBN 978-3- 928412-20-9. (together with Michael Heinemann.)
• musica floreat! Jürgen Blume on his 70th birthday. Birthday, Mainz 2016 (= Spektrum Musiktheorie vol. 5). ISBN 978-3-924-52266-7. (together with Immanuel Ott.)
• Light in the darkness - Lumière dans les ténèbres. Festschrift Daniel Roth on the occasion of his 75th birthday, Bonn 2017. ISBN 978-3-928412-23-0.
• The Munich School. Music theory and compositional theory around 1900Mainz 2018 (= Spektrum Musiktheorie vol. 6). ISBN 978-3-924-52267-4. (together with Juliane Brandes.)

Solo and chamber music

• Orpheus (1993) for basset horn
• With the Seal of the Shadow (1994/1997) for piano trio
• Reaction I (1994) for string quartet
• Five swansongs (1994) for alto flute and double bass
• ... anytime ... (1995) for piano
• Icarus 96 (1996) for alto recorder and band
• talea. Five movements (1995) for marimba and trio basso
• ein-gezeichnet (1997) for alto recorder and piano
• two-drawn (1997) for violoncello
• Intermezzo (1997) for two violoncellos
• (end)two (1997) for string trio
• cerco un paese innocente (1998) for alto recorder and guitar
  Commissioned work for the 20th anniversary of the Lübeck Music and Art School
• MonoDialogues (1999) for string quartet (and narrator)
  Commissioned by the Carl Maria von Weber-Tage Eutin 1999
• Cadences I (2002) for violin, clarinet, violoncello and piano
  Commissioned by the DKV, Landesverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Cadences II Cold is the evening breeze (2002) for flute, viola and piano
  Commissioned by the Carl Maria von Weber-Tage Eutin 2002
• Cadences III Cold is the evening breeze (2002/2003) for clarinet, violoncello and piano
• four times seven words (2004) for string quartet
• complex (arc-en-ciel) (2005) for piano quartet
• SteinZeug (2007) for English horn and trio basso
  Commissioned by the Pomeranian State Museum for the opening
• september (2006-2010) for piano four hands
• paronym I (2012) for violin solo
• August. Ten fragments (2006-2013) for piano
• Bagatelle (Linguae) (2014) for string quartet
• Diversions. Six pieces for piano (2019) (together with Immanuel Ott)
• MiHa (2019) for flute, vibraphone and piano.
• Five friends (2019). Five miniatures for violin and violoncello.

Ensemble and orchestral music

• Time of the roses (1993) for ensemble (low strings, low winds and percussion)
• ...across the words remnants of light. (1993) Discourse for soprano, mezzo-soprano, flute, organ, percussion and tape. Texts: Paul Celan
• Contra (1993) for brass septet
• (K)eine Kantate (1996) for alto saxophone in E flat, trombone, three violins,
• harpsichord and timpani
  Commissioned by the Institute for School Music at the Lübeck University of Music
• No signs (1997) for chamber ensemble (alto recorder, flute, clarinet in Bb, violin, viola, violoncello, piano) and mezzo-soprano
• Singable Remainder (1993) for large orchestra
  Commissioned by the Lübeck Philharmonic Orchestra for the inauguration of the Lübeck Music and Congress Hall

• Ariel (1998). Four verses for large orchestra Commissioned by the Lübeck Youth Symphony Orchestra
• Hamburg Music II (2001) for instruments
• Cadences IV (2003) for four wind instruments and three percussionists
• Pu the Bear. Seven messages from the hundred and sixty-acre forest (2003) for lecture and orchestra
  Commissioned by the Norddeutsche Philharmonie for the IGA 2003 in Rostock
• Solaris (2004) for vocal-instrumental ensemble
• overwriting (requiem.) (2005) for ensemble
• all the king's men (2010) for orchestra
  Commissioned by the Rostock Youth Symphony Orchestra
• Tracks. Music for strings (2010)
  commissioned by the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock
• stripes (2013) for orchestra
  for the orchestra of the Mainz University of Music for the "MainzMusik" festival 2013
• da pacem. Overwriting (2017) for seven strings. (Are Edition 2199)
  for the 71st Greifswald Bach Week "Reformatio mundi"

Vocal music

• Southern days. Eleven Impressions (1993) for soprano and chamber ensemble
• Texts: Susanne Hennemann
• ... and went somewhere else... - Music for E.H. (1994) for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano. Texts: Ernest Hemingway
• Don't let the night in (1996) for mezzo-soprano, alto recorder, violoncello and harpsichord. Texts: Susanne Hennemann
• Sanctus (after note) for baritone and oboe (2002). Text: Andrzej Stasiuk
  Commissioned by the Greifswald Bach Week 2002
• To the North. Ten movements (2003) for soprano and chamber ensemble. Texts: Susanne Hennemann
• Paint the (2003) for voice and viola. Texts: Zdenka Cerna, Ingo Lükemann and Alfred Andersch
• Animal Songs (2004) for one singer and one pianist
• white name (2007) for voice, violin and piano. Text: Adonis
• Tenebrae (2013) for soprano, alto and string orchestra
• [coconut road]. Five songs after poems by Susanne Hennemann (2015). (Are Edition 2197)
• stimmfaden. Four songs on poems by Róža Domašcyna for voice and piano (2018) (with Andreas Pieper). (Are Edition 2342)

Choral music

• Think! (1993) for choir a cappella. Text: Samuel Beckett
• Motet (1998) for choir, favourite choir and organ
• spirit of my lips (2001) for four male voices
• Ite missa est (2002) for baritone, mixed choir, trio basso and percussion. Text: Hans Magnus Enzensberger
  Commissioned by the Greifswald Bach Week 2002
• Rorate caeli (2002) for three-part female choir and string quartet
• Swarms (2005) for eight-part choir
  Commissioned by the University Choir of the University of Greifswald
• (sch-)till (2005) for eight-part choir
• behind the rain (2010) for two choirs (Are Edition 2157)
  Commissioned by the chamber choir of the HMT Rostock "vocalisti rostochienses"

• Credo. Petrification (2011). (Are Edition 2196)
  Commissioned by the Johannis-Kantorei Rostock
• LINGUAE. Pentecost music for four to eight voices (2014). (Are Edition 2192)
  Commissioned by the capella vocalis Reutlingen
• Love songs. Mass. Collage with Pierre de la Rue for choir (2015). (Are Edition 2194)
  Commissioned by the Worms festival "Wunderhören"
• Love songs for choir a capella (2015). (Are Edition 2195) Commissioned by the Worms Festival "Wunderhören"

• the sky, the heart (2016) for choir and organ. Text: Odile Caradec and Christian David. (Are Edition 2198). Commissioned by the parish of Immanuel-Nazareth Munich

Organ music

• Organ Book 95 (1995/96)
• three-drawn (1997)
  Commissioned by the 11th International Organ Weeks Eutin 1997
• Triton horn (with Our Father) (1998)
• ... on the way ... heavy chalice (1998)
• Neudorf organ booklet. (2000/2001) 33 chorale preludes
• HIP. Scene for an organist (2002)
• Seven words. Palimpsest prosthesis for organ(s) (2003)
  Commissioned by the parish of St Lorenz, Lübeck
• (passus.) in memoriam I (2004) (Are Edition 2194)
• (ritual.) in memoriam II (2004) for organ and percussion (Are Edition 2194)
• ZWEI. Palimpsest prosthesis for organ (2003 / 2014)
  for the festival "MainzMusik" 2014

Scenic and oratorical music

• Cascando. Synthetic interpretation (1995) after Samuel Beckett
• for alto or countertenor and tape
• Completion of the 9th scene of the opera "Historia von Dr Johann Fausten" by Alfred Schnittke based on the composer's sketches
• The Legend of St Laurentius (2000). Libretto: Mathias Will
  Commissioned by the parish of St Lorenz Lübeck for the 100th anniversary of the church
• Plümmeln un Slökten. A scenic fragment after F.K. Waechter (2012)
• LINGUAE. Whitsun music for voices and instruments (2014). (Are Edition 2191).
  Commissioned by the capella vocalis Reutlingen
• Agnus Dei 42 45 (2017) for soloists, choir and orchestra. Text: Michael Buselmeier, Odile Caradec, Susanne Hennemann and Meret Oppenheim. Commissioned by Musica Sacra at the High Cathedral in Mainz

Birger Petersen's compositions have been published by ARE Musikverlag Cologne since 2013.