Biography

Saunders studied violin and composition at the University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

. This was followed by a scholarship from the DAAD

German Academic Exchange Service

The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....

 from 1991 to 1994 to study composition at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm

Wolfgang Rihm

Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...

, and in 1997 a doctorate in composition with Nigel Osborne

Nigel Osborne

Nigel Osborne MBE, FRCM is a British composer.He serves as Reid Professor of music at the University of Edinburgh and has been teaching at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.He studied composition with Kenneth Leighton ,...

.

She has received the Busoni Prize of the Berlin Academy of the Arts

Akademie der Künste

The Akademie der Künste, Berlin is an arts institution in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1696 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg as the Prussian Academy of Arts, an academic institution where members could meet and discuss and share ideas...

, the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize

Ernst von Siemens Music Prize

The international Ernst von Siemens Music Prize is an annual music prize given by the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste on behalf of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung , established in 1972. The foundation was established by Ernst von Siemens...

 for composition, the composition prize from the ARD

ARD (broadcaster)

ARD is a joint organization of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters...

 and the Paul Hindemith Prize as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival

The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a classical music festival held every year in summer time all over the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany....

 (2003). In 2010, she taught at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses.

From 2005 to 2006 she was composer-in-residence at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. From 2009 to 2010 she held the post of Capell-Compositeur (composer-in-residence) at the Staatskapelle Dresden.

Her piece traces received its UK premiere in a new expanded version from the Staatskapelle Dresden and Fabio Luisi

Fabio Luisi

Fabio Luisi is an Italian conductor. On September 6, 2011, he was named Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera....

 during the 2009 Proms

The Proms

The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...

 season.

In 2010 she was composer-in-residence at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is held in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has a repertoire of cutting-edge jazz, orchestral, choral and electroacoustic performances, along with film, dance and music theatre...

.

Works

• Molly's Song 3—shades of crimson (1995), for alto flute, viola, steel-stringed guitar, four radios and music box
• Duo (1996), for violin and piano
• Into the Blue (1996), for clarinet, bassoon, cello, double bass, piano and percussion
• dichroic seventeen (1996), for piano, two percussionists, two double basses, accordion and electric guitar
• QUARTET (1998), for piano, violin, double bass and accordion
• cinnabar (1999), for violin, trumpet and ensemble
• albescere (2001), for twelve instruments and five voices
• vermilion (2003), for clarinet, electric guitar and cello
• insideout (2003), music for the choreographic installation by Sasha Waltz
  Sasha Waltz
  Sasha Alexandra Waltz is a German choreographer, dancer and leader of the dance company Sasha Waltz and Guests.- Biography :...
  
  
• blaauw (2004), for double-bell trumpet
• Choler (2004), for piano duo
• Miniata (2004), for accordion, piano, choir and orchestra
• rubricare (2005), for strings and organ
• Blue and Gray (2005), for two double basses
• Stirrings Still (2007), for alto flute, oboe, clarinet, piano and bowed crotales
• chroma IX (2003–08), for chamber groups in several spaces
• traces (2006–09), for orchestra

Note

The initial version of this article was based on a translation of the article on Rebecca Saunders in the German Wikipedia

German Wikipedia

The German Wikipedia is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and mostly publicly editable online encyclopedia.Founded in March 2001, it is the second-oldest and, with over articles, the second-largest edition of Wikipedia, behind the English Wikipedia...

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External links

• Rebecca Saunders interviewed at the time of the premiere of albescere, Ensemble Modern (in English)