Good music must always point beyond itself, must attempt to expand horizons, to break the boundaries of the inner imagination, to venture into undiscovered new territory; it must struggle for substance and depth, seek radical expression, must burn, scream ...

René Wohlhauser

How must the perceptive consciousness be touched in order to be able to carry the aesthetic content, "le feu sacré" of the vision of another world through everyday life without eroding it? How can composers influence perception in such a way that what is perceived has an effect, that it produces better people at best?

Above all, it is important to make human perception aware of itself again and again. Contemplation, involvement and concentration on the moment, on an action or on an object (and, particularly challenging, on an immaterial, sounding phenomenon and the action that produces it) may lead to a different perception of the world. New, unconventional forms of perception of music could thus be a possible concept of critical scrutiny and a political act in a general sense.

In the time available to it, music depicts states of our being. It explores the limits of our existence. By opening up a perspective into transcendence, it defends itself against the temporality of real existence.

If, according to Maxim Gorky, art is the soul of the world, then it reacts seismographically to the tremors of the human emotional world. Critical art becomes a conscience that reflects people's actions and consciousness with artistic means, and this on a deeper and more lasting level than would be possible with verbal political statements.

René Wohlhauser

(Excerpt from: Essay for the CD booklet of the portrait CD "Grammont Portrait", 2009; also published in: "KunstMusik, Schriften zur Musik der Kunst", 2010)

44 works for various solo instruments

78 duos in various instrumentations

42 trios in various instrumentations

23 quartets in various instrumentations

19 quintets in various instrumentations

8 sextets in various instrumentations

2 septets in various instrumentations

1 octet: Uom Raswékje Nadak for soprano, baritone, flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and violoncello on own formant-generated phonemes (2012), Ergon 45/II, Musikwerknummer 1638, ca. 20 min.

1 duodectet (12 musicians): ReBruAla for soprano, baritone, strummed piano and play-along sounds or live ensemble (six-part (play-along) choir, (play-along) piano, (play-along) noise track and a field recording) (2017), on a poem by the composer, Ergon 62, no. 2, music work number 1808, approx. 4 ½ min.

2 orchestral works

2 operas

1 oratorio: The Marakra cycle (2006-2011), 80 min.

1 choral work: Masona for 16-part mixed choir on own onomatopoeic texts (2009/2010), Ergon 41, music work number 1548, approx. 17 min.

77 vocal works a cappella or with instruments

4 works with electronics [228]

Over a thousand works in other styles.

Over 1900 musical work numbers in total. Of which 81 works on CD and over 100 works on YouTube. Plus poems, graphics, digital painting.

As of May 2019. More detailed information at www.renewohlhauser.com

1954: Born in Zurich on 24 March and grew up in Brienz (Switzerland).

1975-79: Conservatory (music academy) Basel. Composition and music theory with Thomas Kessler, Robert Suter, Jacques Wildberger and Jürg Wyttenbach.

1980-1987: Composition studies with Klaus Huber and Brian Ferneyhough in Freiburg im Breisgau. Further studies in piano and singing.

1978-1998: Around a dozen international composition prizes and awards (including in Darmstadt in 1988).

1996-2019: Seven portrait CDs (including five for Neos, Munich).

2004: World premiere of the opera "Gantenbein" at the Lucerne Theatre in collaboration with the International Festival of World Music Days and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

From 2008 until today: Regular international tours as a singer, pianist and ensemble leader with his own "Ensemble Polysono", the "Duo Simolka-Wohlhauser" and the "Trio Simolka-Wohlhauser-Seiffert".

2013: The book "Aphorismen zur Musik" is published by Pfau-Verlag, Saarbrücken.

Composes solo, chamber, vocal and orchestral music, organ works and music theatre (opera).

Numerous performances at home and abroad, e.g. Schauspielhaus Berlin, Nôtre-Dame-de-Paris.

Guest lecturer for composition at international courses.

Publications on compositional, aesthetic and philosophical aspects of New Music. Has taught composition, music theory and improvisation at the Basel Academy of Music since 1979 (and at the Lucerne Academy from 1979 to 1991) and as a professor at the Kalaidos University of Music.