Reflections on Narcissus

Composed in 2004/2005; performance material available for hire.

Matthias Pintscher was born in Marl in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in 1971 and studied composition with Giselher Klebe and Manfred Trojahn.Formative influences were his encounters with Hans Werner Henze, who invited him to Montepulciano in 1991 and 1992, and with Helmut Lachenmann, Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös. Awards include first prize in the HitzackerComposition Competition (1992), the Rolf Liebermann Prize and the Opera Prize from the Körber Foundation Hamburg (1993 and 1996), the Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize (1999), Composition Prize from the Salzburg Easter Festival andtheHindemith Prize from the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival (2000). In 2002 he was awarded the Hans Werner Henze Prize (Westphalian Music Prize). Pintscher first came to international attention with the opera Thomas Chatterton atthe Semper Opera, Dresden (1998), and later with his second opera L'espace dernier at the Opéra National de Paris (2004). He was composer-in-residence with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2002, the following seasons at the KonzerthausDortmund, Lucerne Festival, with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken, at the Philharmonie, Cologne and at the RSO Stuttgart. From 2010 onwards Pintscher is “Artist-in-Association” at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, since2014 Artist-in-residence at the Danish Radio Orchestra. As a conductor, Matthias Pintscher works regularly with leading orchestras and ensembles in Europe and the USA. From 2007 to 2009 he was Professor of Composition at theUniversity of Music and Performing Arts Munich and 2010 to 2011 at the New York University. He is Music Director of the Ensemble intercontemporain and since the 2013 14 season. As of September 2014 he is Professor for compositionat the Juilliard School of Music New York.