Safronov
Safronov
The composer about his work
"For me, composing essentially means an ability for tonal metaphor. This requires a constant search for the language that is always presupposed by a specific task. For me, being contemporary does not mean being dependent on various clichés of contemporary music, but - on the contrary - it only begins where these can be overcome."
Biography
Anton Safronov
was born in Moscow in 1972. He studied at the State P.Tchaikovsky Conservatory in his home city with Edison Denisov (composition) and Yuri Kholopov (music theory), followed by postgraduate studies in Germany with Walter Zimmermann (Berlin) and Wolfgang Rihm (Karlsruhe), masterclasses with Beat Furrer, Peter Ruzicka, the Ensemble Modern (at the Society for New Music's Young Composers' Forum), awards at international composition competitions, scholarships (including from the DAAD, the Berlin Cultural Senate, the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of SWR) and artistic residencies (at the German Academy Villa Massimo in Rome, the Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart, the Künstlerhof Schreyahn, the Baldreit Scholarship of the City of Baden-Baden, etc.).a.). Anton Safronov's works have been performed at numerous international festivals (including MaerzMusik Berlin, Munich Biennale, ISCM World Music Days and ECLAT-Festival in Stuttgart, Dresdener Tage für Zeitgenössische Musik, The Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam, Schnittke Festival in London, Music Biennale Zagreb, "Another Space" of the Moscow Philharmonic) and have also been documented on CD many times. The composer has worked with the Russian State Orchestra "Yevgeny Svetlanov", the Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg PhilharmonicPetersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Ensemble Modern, the Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, the Ensemble UnitedBerlin, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, the London Sinfonietta, the Schönberg Ensemble (Amsterdam), the Ensemble Divertimento (Milan), the conductors Vladimir Jurowski, Reinbert de Leeuw, Matthias Pintscher and other renowned interpreters. In addition to his own compositions, Anton Safronov also explores works by other composers: His version of Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony in B minor, completed using the original sketches, his reconstruction of the lost ballet interlude from Mozart's "Ascanio in Alba" and his composed transitions to Wagner's "Ring des Nibelungen" (for the Theatre an der Wien's production of "The Ring Trilogy") were re-performed under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski, Andrey Boreyko and Constantin Trinks.
Anton Safronov teaches composition and analysis at the University of the Arts and the Julius Stern Institute in Berlin, gives masterclasses and guest lectures internationally and organises projects for contemporary music.
| 1972 | 19 May Born in Moscow (USSR/Russia) |
1991-96 | Studied at the Peter Chaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow with Edison Denisov (composition) and Yuri Kholopov (music theory) |
1994-98 | Participation in the annual International Masterclass for New Music at the Bundes- und Landesmusikakademie Rheinsberg (Germany) |
1996 | First prize at the 8th International Composers' Competition in Besançon (France) |
1997-99 | Master's degree in composition at the Berlin University of the Arts with Walter Zimmermann (scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service) |
1999-2003 | Concert exam studies in composition at the State University of Music Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm |
2001 | Participant in the Young Composers' Forum of the Society for New Music with the Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt am Main) |
2003-09 | Teaching position at the Peter Chaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow (work analysis, composition) |
2003-04 | Scholarship from the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of SWR Freiburg |
2004-05 | Baldreit Scholarship from the City of Baden-Baden (one-year artistic residency) |
2005-09 | Co-editor and author for the magazine "Tribuna Sovremennoj Muzyki" ("Tribune of Contemporary Music"), Moscow |
2005 | Portrait concert with the Ensemble Aventure in Freiburg and Baden-Baden Artistic residency at the Künstlerhof Schreyahn (Lower Saxony) |
2006 | Artistic residency at the Künstlerhaus Salzwedel (Saxony-Anhalt) |
2007-08 | Artistic residency at the German Academy Villa Massimo in Rome |
2008 | Artistic residency at the Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart |
2009 | Scholarship from the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation |
since 2009 | Teaching position at the Berlin University of the Arts (Faculty of Music): Individual lessons for composition, seminar "Listening to structures" for analysing works and aural training) |
2010 | Composer-in-Residence at the festival "Ajassa!" and guest lecturer at the University "Metropolia" (Helsinki) |
2011 | Portrait concert at the "Klangspuren" of the Munich Biennale Project coordinator of the Brandenburg Festival of New Music "Intersonanzen" (Potsdam) |
2012-13 | Artistic director of the project "GAMEnsemble: Young Russia - Young Europe" |
| 2014 | Guest lecturer at the International Workshop for young composers in Mazsalaca (Latvia) |
| 2016 | Composer-in-Residence at the festival "Nawryz-XXI" and guest lecturer at the Kazakh National Conservatory "Kurmangazy" Almaty (Kazakhstan) Composer-in-residence at the project "Baltic New Music Spectrum" of the NeoQuartet and at the festival "NeoArte" (Gdansk/Danzig) |
2016, 2012 | Erasmus lecturer at the Latvian Academy of Music "Jazeps Vitols" Riga |
since 2017 | Author for the specialised journal "Muzykalnaya Zhizn" ("Musical Life"), Moscow |
2018, 1998 | Working scholarships from the Berlin University Senate for Culture and Europe |
2018 | Juror at the National Competition of Young Composers of the Russian State Orchestra "Yevgeny Svetlanov" for the contemporary music festival "Another Space" (Moscow Philharmonic) |
2020 | Juror at the "Partitura" competition for young composers of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra |
WORK LIST (selection)
L`espace de sentiment continu for large orchestra | (1996) |
Imaginary Monotheatre by Vladimir Mayakovsky for soprano and orchestra | (2018) |
CHRONOS ... -TRÄUME a music scenic performance for chamber orchestra | (2000/2017) |
Lava - Entropia for dancer and ensemble | (2013) |
a Bach piece / a piece of Bach for chamber ensemble | (2008) |
Papageno ... last temptation for chamber ensemble | (2015) |
Associazione - Dissociazione with, after and about Beethoven for ensemble | (2017) |
Repka (The Turnip) - Russian folk tale for string quartet | (2012/2016) |
morning rain for 4 percussionists | (2008) |
...riflessioni... for viola, cello and double bass | (1995/2012) |
Sostenuto... Ostinato... Two Voices, Not In Unison for piano trio | (2020) |
The House That Jack Built - English nursery rhyme for female voice and cello | (2011) |
Berceuse Epitaph for Georgy Dorokhov for female voice and violin | (2014) |
sentimento - ... CODA in memory of Edison Denisov for piano solo | (1997/2001) |
Bird of Farewell for one flutist | (1997/2005) |
