Hans Zender

Hans Zender is 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

"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