Manfred Stahnke is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and musicologist from Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

. He writes chamber music, orchestral music and stage music. His music is notably known for his use of microtonality

Microtonal music

Microtonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...

.

Life

Stahnke studied composition with Wolfgang Fortner

Wolfgang Fortner

Wolfgang Fortner was a German composer, composition teacher and conductor.-Life:Fortner was born in Leipzig. From his parents - both singers - Fortner very early on had intense contact with music...

 (1970-73), with Klaus Huber

Klaus Huber

Klaus Huber is a Swiss composer.Huber was born in Bern, Switzerland. One of the leading figures of his generation in Europe, he has written extensively for chamber ensembles, choirs, soloists and the orchestra as well as the theater...

 and Brian Ferneyhough

Brian Ferneyhough

Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...

 (1973-74), and with György Ligeti

György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

 (1974-79). In addition, he studied piano; his primary piano teacher was Edith Picht-Axenfeld

Edith Picht-Axenfeld

Edith Picht-Axenfeld was a German pianist and harpsichordist.She started her concert career in 1935, and took part two years later in the third Fryderyk Chopin Competition, where she was awarded a 6th prize; this launched her career...

.

He also holds a doctoral degree in musicology, with a thesis on the subject of Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...

' Third Piano Sonata (1979, under Constantin Floros

Constantin Floros

Constantin Floros is a Greek musicologist. He studied law at the University of Thessaloniki and then composition and conducting at the Vienna Music Academy. At the same time he studied musicology with Erich Schenk at Vienna University as well as art history , philosophy and psychology...

 in Hamburg).

In 1979-80 he went to the United States to study with the microtonalist Ben Johnston in Urbana, Illinois

Urbana, Illinois

Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....

, and with the computer music researcher and composer John Chowning

John Chowning

John M. Chowning is an American composer, musician, inventor, and professor best known for his work at Stanford University and his invention of FM synthesis while there.-Contribution:...

 at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, California.

Currently, he is a professor of composition and music theory at the Hamburg Hochschule für Musik und Theater

Works

• 1983-86 HEINRICH IV. (nach Pirandello), Oper, with small orchestra, Kiel 1987
• 1986 TWO SCALES, 2 microtonal played Fagotte, American Festival of Microtonal Music Ensemble: April Chapman, Johnny Reinhardt, New York
• 1982-85 PARTOTA, Pno ad lib. in Vallotti-Stimmung, Hubertus Dreyer, Hamburg 1986
• 1987 EN CET HYBRIDE TAMPS, Kammerensemble mikrotonal, 4 Cl, 2 Vl, 2 Vla, Harfe, Yamaha DX7-II Synthesizer, 2 Perc, ensemble modern, Saarbrücken 1988, UA Neufassung Szombathely 1990
• 1988 BRATSCHENSONATE, Christian Stahnke, Mike Rutledge, Hubertus Dreyer Hamburg 1990-92, Neufassung 2005
• 1990 CENTONAGE, Kammerensemble mikrotonal, Fl, Ob, Cl, Trp, Pos, Perc, Harfe, Yamaha DX7-II Synthesizer, 3 Vl, Va, Vc, ensemble modern, Frankfurt
• 1991 ANSICHTEN EINES KAEFERS, Sologitarre in scordatura, Teil-UA Frank Pschichholz, Moskau 1992; 1. Gesamt-UA Satoshi Oba, Odense 1995
• 1992 PARTOTA II - FUER GYOERGY LIGETI, für MIDI-Flügel und Sampler, Hubertus Dreyer, Hamburg
• 1993 SAITENSPIEL, 7 V, 3 Va, 3 Vc, Kb, in scordatura, Hamburger Camerata, Dir. Claus Bantzer
  Claus Bantzer
  Claus Bantzer is a German church musician, composer and director.- Life and work :Claus Bantzer was born in Marburg in 1942 into an artist's family. His older brother Christoph Bantzer is an actor....
  
  , Hamburg
• 1994 STREETMUSIC I, Posaune und Steeldrums, Metal Brass, Mainz 1995. Version für Bassflöte und Steeldrums, l'art pour l'art, Hamburg 1997
• 1997 TRACE DES SORCIERS, Orchester mikrotonal, SWR Sinfonieorchester, Dir. Olav Henzold, Donaueschingen
• 1999 LUMPENGALERIE, Fl, Cl, V, Vc, Pno, Perc, Ensemble Est!Est!!Est!!! Bonn
• 2000 IV. STREICHQUARTETT, München
• 2001 ORPHEUS KRISTALL, Oper für Bühne und Peripherie, Sopran, 2 Mezzosoprane, Bariton. Solo-Percussion, 4 externe Musiker (z.B. Internetmusiker), Fl, Cl, Trp, 2 Pos, 3 Vl, 3 Va, 3 Vc, Kb, 75', Munich Biennale
  Munich Biennale
  The Munich Biennale is an opera festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater, literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial festival was created in 1988 by Hans Werner Henze and is held in even-numbered years over...
  
  2002
• 2003 SCALES OF AGES, Saxophone Symphony. Altsaxophon und Orchester, 25', John-Edward Kelly, Philharmonisches Orchester Heidelberg, Dir. Thomas Kalb, Heidelberg 2004
• 2005 PARTOTA IX - Tanz und Tod, Duo für Akkordeon und Pno, Andreas Nebl, Oliver McCall, Trossingen 2006
• 2006 SKINS&STRINGS, Percussion, Va, Vc, Rumi Ogawa, Jagdish Mistry, Michael Kasper, Frankfurt/M
• 2006 DE DANZBODNLOCK - Violinsinfonie, Violine solo und Orchester, Barbara Lüneburg, SWR-Sinfonieorchester, Dir. Hans Zender, Donaueschingen

External links

• homepage
• Interview (in German)
• Zwischen Schrift und Schriftlosigkeit Article (in German)
• Orpheus Kristall Information about the opera
• Streichquartette
• Calling Works for the bells of the churches of Hamburg with two choirs.
• Kulturnetz Schleswig-Holstein
• Sisyphos Multimedia work
• Hybrid Thinking in Meloharmony Lecture University of Montreal 2007