Emmanuel Nunes
Encyclopedia
Biography
Nunes was born in LisbonLisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, where he studied composition, first from 1959 to 1963 at the Academia de Amadores de Música with Francine Benoit, and then with Fernando Lopes Graça at the University (1962–64). He then attended courses at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse (1963–65), and in 1964 moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. A year later he moved to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik Köln
Hochschule für Musik Köln
The Cologne University of Music is a music college in Cologne, and Germany's largest academy of music.-History:The academy was founded by Ferdinand Hiller in 1850 as Conservatorium der Musik in Coeln...
, and studied composition with Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur
Henri Pousseur was a Belgian composer.-Biography:Pousseur studied at the Academies of Music in Liège and in Brussels from 1947 to 1953. He was closely associated with Pierre Froidebise and André Souris...
, electronic music with Jaap Spek, and phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
with Georg Heike, while also taking courses with Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
(Latino 2001).
In 1971 he was awarded the Premier Prix d´Esthetique Musicale in the class of Marcel Beaufils at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
in Paris, in 1999 won the UNESCO Composition Prize, and in 2000 was the winner of the Prémio Pessoa
Prémio Pessoa
The Prémio Pessoa is a Portuguese award instituted in 1987 by the newspaper Expresso and the IT company Unisys. It is granted annually to the person of Portuguese nationality who during this period, and in the course of previous activity, has distinguished him or herself as a figure in scientific,...
.
Since the 1980s he has become a teacher, amongst other places at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in the USA, at the Paris Conservatory, and at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. From 1986 to 1992 he held a professorship in composition at the New Music Institute of the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
The Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Freiburg is a public music academy subsidized by the State of Baden-Württemberg for academic research and artistic and pedagogical training in music.-History:The Hochschule was initially founded as a municipal institution in 1946 under the direction of Gustav...
. Nunes was named an Officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters in 1986, and in 1991 was appointed Comendador da Ordem de Santiago da Espada by the President of Portugal. From 1992 until 2006 Nunes has been Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatory.
Selected compositions
Opera- Das Märchen, Opera in a prologue and 2 acts (2007); libretto after Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
Orchestral music
- Fermata for orchestra and tape (1973)
- Ruf for orchestra and tape (1977)
- Chessed I for 4 instrumental ensembles (1979)
- Chessed II for 16 instrumental soloists and orchestra (1979)
- Sequencias for clarinet, 2 vibraphones, violin and orchestra (1982/1983–1988)
- Quodlibet for 28 instruments, 6 percussionists and orchestra, led by 2 conductors (1990–1991)
- Chessed IV for string quartet and orchestra (1992)
Chamber music
- Impromptu pour un voyage I for trumpet, flute, viola and harp (1973)
- Impromptu pour un voyage II for flute, viola and harp (1974–1975)
- Wandlungen for ensemble and live electronics (1986)
- Clivages I and II for 6 percussionists (1987–1988)
- Versus III for alto flute and viola (1987–1990)
- Lichtung I for clarinet, horn, trombone, tuba, 4 percussionists and cello (1988–1991)
- Chessed III for string quartet (1990–1991)
- La Main noire for 3 violas (2006–2007); after the opera Das Märchen
Solo instrumental
- Litanies du feu et de la mer I for piano (1969)
- Litanies du feu et de la mer II for piano (1971)
- Einspielung III for solo viola (1981)
- Ludi concertati No. 1 for solo bass flute (1985)
- Aura for solo flute (1983–1989)
- Improvisation II: Portrait for viola solo (2002)
Vocal music
- Machina Mundi for 4 instrumental soloists, choir, orchestra and tape (1991–1992)