Composer, pianist, conductor, baritone
Biography:
Rene Wohlhauser (composition, baritone, piano), born in 1954 and grew up in Brienz (Switzerland). Experiences as a rock and jazz musician. Mainly a composer of contemporary art music (including chamber music, orchestral and stage works). Studied at the Basel Music Academy (music theory with Robert Suter and Thomas Kessler, composition with Jacques Wildberger) and composition courses with Kazimierz Serocki, Mauricio Kagel, Herbert Brün and Heinz Holliger. Composition studies with Klaus Huber and Brian Ferneyhough. Further piano studies with Stéphane Reymond and singing studies with David Wohnlich and Robert Koller.
Numerous performances at home and abroad, e.g. Schauspielhaus Berlin, Notre-Dame de Paris, Tokyo, Rome, St. Petersburg and at festivals in Darmstadt, Odessa, Zurich, Sofia and Cardiff. Numerous international composition prizes, e.g. Valentino Bucchi, Rome (1978), Salzburg Cathedral Chapter (1987), Kranichsteiner Scholarship Prize of the International Summer Courses for New Music Darmstadt (1988), Eastern Switzerland Foundation for Music and Theater (1990), Lucerne Sponsorship Prize (1991), Society for Music Pedagogical Research, Zurich ( 1992), Swiss Radio International (1996), Basel-Landschaft sponsorship award (1998). 2004 premiere of the opera Gantenbein at the Lucerne Theater.
Regular tours in Europe as a pianist, singer and conductor with the »Duo Simolka-Wohlhauser« and the »Ensemble Polysono«. Over 350 recordings on YouTube. Guest lecturer for composition at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt (1988-94), at the Festival in Odessa (1996-98) and at the International Composers' Studio in Lugano (2000).
2013 Start of the CD series »Wohlhauser Edition« on the NEOS label. Publications e.g. in: musiclyrics (Cologne), Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Darmstadt Contributions to New Music, New Music and Aesthetics in the 21st Century as well as his book Aphorisms about music. cultural and political commitment.
Taught composition, music theory and improvisation at the Basel Music Academy until 2019 (and at the Lucerne Academy until 1991) and continued as a professor for composition and music theory at the Kalaidos Music Academy.
Albums:
« L'amour est une duperie – l'amour n'est pas une symbiosis »: