Moritz Eggert, composer and pianist

Moritz Eggert (*1965, Heidelberg) studied piano and composition at Dr.Hoch´s Konservatorium in Frankfurt (with Wolfgang Wagenhaeuser and Claus Kuehnl), at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt (with Leonard Hokanson) and in Munich at the Musikhochschule Muenchen (with Wilhelm Killmayer). Later he continued his piano studies with Raymund Havenith and Dieter Lallinger, and his composition studies with Hans-Jürgen von Bose in Munich. In 1992 he spent a year in London as a post-graduate composition student with Robert Saxton at the Guildhall School for Music and Drama.

Moritz Eggert has covered all genres in his work – his oeuvre includes 7 operas as well as ballets and works for dance and music theatre, often with unusual performance elements. 1997 German TV produced a feature-length film portrait about his music.

As a pianist he regularly collaborates with many artists, as soloist with orchestra, as chamber music partner in various formations and as a Lied accompanist. In 1996 he presented the complete works for piano solo by Hans Werner Henze for the first time in one concert, in 1989 he was a prizewinner at the International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music.

As a composer Moritz Eggert has been awarded with prizes like the composition prize of the Salzburger Osterfestspiele, the Schneider/Schott-prize, the „Ad Referendum“-prize in Montréal, the Siemens Förderpreis for young composers, and the Zemlinsky Prize. 2003 he became a member of the “Bayerische Akademie der Schoenen Kuenste”.
1991 he founded - together with Sandeep Bhagwati - the A*Devantgarde festival for new music, which will take place for the 9th time in June 2007.
His concert-length cycle for piano solo, „Haemmerklavier“, is among his best known works and has been performed around the world.

Moritz Eggert has written 7 operas and several more works for music and dance theatre. His last opera, “The Snail”, was performed in Mannheim (directed and written by Hans Neuenfels).
His large “soccer oratorio” for the Ruhrtriennale 2005 and the Soccer World Championship in Germany 2006 experienced widespread media coverage in German as well as foreign media.
Moritz Eggert created the opening ceremony for the FIFA World Cup 2006 (together with director Christian Stueckl and stage designer Marlene Pohley) and is currently working on a a new opera for the Beethovenfest and the Bonn opera house (“Freax”, together with librettist Hannah Duebgen, premiere September 2007) . A collage of all 22 Mozart operas (“Orale Pole Mazy Brats”) for 4 singers, speaker and orchestra for the opening concert of the Salzburger Festspiele 2006 has recently been broadcast live on TV in all of Europe. There are currently 6 new productions of Eggert’s operas in several different cities in Germany and Switzerland in the season of 2006/2007.


(1/11/2006)

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