Hans Zender

Hans Zender was a composer and conductor, a leading interpreter of avant-garde * Studied at Musikhochschule in Frankfurt and Freiburg * Worked as pianist and gained stage experience at Freiburg Municipal Theatre * Compositions in 1960s influenced by serial procedures and refined instrumentation of Boulez, and by aesthetic principles of BA Zimmermann * Cantos cycle collects together favourite authors, including Heraclitus, Ezra Pound and Cervantes * 1970s brought fascination with Eastern artistic forms and philosophy * Works such as Muji No Kyo emulate in musical terms the poetic concentration of haiku, calligraphic techniques, and structural relationship between writing, word and sound * Developed a technique of collage using classical or literary models that led to works such as the chamber music cycle Hölderlin lesen (1979-91) or Dialogue with Haydn (1982) * Exploration of linguistics reached culmination in Joyce opera Stephen Climax (1979/84) * In 1988 appointed Professor of Composition at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule * Has widely championed works of Zimmermann and York Höller * Conductorships at Bonn Opera, City of Kiel, Saarbrücken Radio Symphony, Hamburg State Opera, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra and Brussels Opera

Works by Hans Zender include:
Three Eichendorff Songs (1964) for soprano and orchestra
Cantos I-V (1965-74) for voices and instruments
Muji No Kyo (1974) for voice and instruments
Dialog mit Haydn (1982) for two pianos and orchestra

Works after 1983 are published by Breitkopf & Härtel or Universal Edition

"His simultaneous presentation of musical shapes conveys to the eye and ear a fleeting impression of what music could be beyond all stylistic self-limitation: universal poetry." — Wolfgang Fink