Stefan Prins

Stefan Prins (born 20 May 1979) is a Belgian composer and performer.^[1]

Biography

Studies

Born in Kortrijk, Stefan Prins studied composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp from which he holds a Master's degree (2009) and specialized in sonology at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (2005). Since 2011, he is pursuing a PhD in composition at Harvard University under the supervision of Chaya Czernowin.^[2]

He also graduated from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in electrotechnical engineering specialising in photonics (2002).

Career

Stefan Prins's music has been performed in numerous international music festivals and concert series such as ECLAT Festival (Stuttgart), Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik (Germany), Züricher Tage für Neue Musik (Switzerland), ISCM World Music Days (Wroclaw, Poland), Deutschlandfunk Forum Neue Musik (Köln, Germany), University of Haifa (Israel), Darmstädter Ferienkurse (Germany), Imatronic ZKM (Karlsruhe), Under the Radar Festival (Omaha, USA), Moscow International House of Music (Russia), Wien Modern (Austria), Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival (Norway), Ars Musica (Belgium), Museum of Contemporary Art Helsinki (Finland), Installactions (Warsaw), Tzlil Meudcan (Tel Aviv), Mata Interval Series (NYC), Donaueschingen Festival (Germany),^[3] Kesselhaus (Berlin, Germany), Nowy Teatr Warschau (Poland), Musica Viva (München), Rainy Days Festival (Luxemburg), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), Impuls Festival (Austria), Konzerthaus, Vienna (Austria), Transit Festival (Belgium), Festival Musica Strasbourg (France), Luzerne Festival (Switzerland).

Many ensembles and musicians have performed his music such as Nadar Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Nikel, Ensemble Mosaik, Trio Accanto Champ d'Action, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Dal Niente, Vertixe Sonora Ensemble, L'Arsenale, Zwerm Electric Guitar Quartet, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Chris Wild, Frederik Croene, Matthias Koole, Tom Pauwels, Mark Knoop, Gwen Rouger, Stéphane Ginsburgh, Sebastian Berweck, Séverine Ballon, and many more.

Stefan Prins is co-artistic director of "Nadar Ensemble",^[4] founding member of "Ministry of Bad Decisions" (live-electronics), with Brian Archinal and Yaron Deutsch, and founding member (2001) of instant composed trio "collectief reFLEXible".

Prizes

• Kunstpreis Berlin für Musik (2016)^[5]
• ISCM Young Composers Award (2014)^[6]
• Laureate of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium of Sciences and Arts, class of the Arts (2014)
• Adelbert W. Sprague Prize for Generation Kill, Harvard University (2014)
• Young Belgian Musician of the Year (2012)^[7]
• Kranichsteiner Musikpreis for composition (Darmstadt, 2010)^[8]
• Staubach Honorarium (2009, Darmstadt)^[9]
• International Impuls Composition Award (Graz, 2009)^[10]
• Week of the Contemporary Music (Gent, 2006, 2nd Prize)
• KBC Aquarius Composition Award for Young Composers (Brussels, 2001)

Selected compositions

• Mirror Box (Flesh+Prosthesis #3) [2014] (22') for tenor saxophone, percussion, piano & live-electronics / premiered by Trio Accanto at Eclat Festival, 6 February 2014, Stuttgart
• Flesh+Prosthesis No. 0, 1, 2 [2013–14] (16') for tenor saxophone, percussion, piano, electric guitar & live-electronics / premiered by Nikel Ensemble
• Generation Kill [2012] (25') for percussion, electric guitar, violin, cello, 4 musicians with game controllers, 4 video-projections, live-video / premiered in October 2012 by Nadar Ensemble at Donaueschingen Festival
• Piano Hero #1 [2011] (8') for midi-keyboard, live-electronics and video / premiered by Frederik Croene, 2011, deSingel
• Piano Hero #2 [2011, rev. 2013, 2016] (8') for amplified piano, midi-keyboard, live-electronics and video / premiered by Mark Knoop in November 2011 at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
• Piano Hero #3 [2016] (25') for piano, midi-keyboard and live electronics / premiered by Stephane Ginsburgh in July 2016 at Darmstädter Ferienkurse
• Fremdkörper No. 3 (mit Michael Jackson) [2010] (11') for amplified ensemble & sampler /premiered by Klangforum Wien, 2011, at Impuls Festival

Selected recordings

• "Mirror Box (Flesh+Prosthesis #3) [2014]" on Trio Accanto Edition Vol. 1, WERGO (forthcoming 2016).
• Donaueschinger Musiktage 2012, Neos 11303-05 (October 2013)^[11]
• Fremdkörper, Sub Rosa SR352 (June 2012): monographic double-cd^[12]
• Realgar, Amirani Records, amrn 013 (October 2008)^[13]

Selected Bibliography

About Stefan Prins

• Alien Bodies, Stefan Prins' aesthetics of music, Tomasz Biernacki, Dissonance^[14]
• Darmstadt New Wave Modernism, Celeste Oram, Tempo (2015)^[15]

By Stefan Prins

• Het Theater van het Hybride Lichaam, in preparation, Kunsttijdschrift Vlaanderen (April 2015)
• Composing Today : Luft von diesem Planeten, Darmstädter Beiträge zum Neuen Musik, band 22 (August 2014)
• Composing Today : Luft von diesem Planeten, Klangforum Agenda 2013–14 (August 2013)
• Together with Pieter Matthynssens: “Nadar Ensemble: Verankerung in der heutigen Welt, in Positionen, Heft 97 (November 2013)
• Komponieren Heute: Luft von diesem Planeten, in Positionen, Heft 97 (November 2013)

References

External links

• Stefan Prins's personal website