Oscar Strasnoy
Argentine composer, conductor, and pianist, born 12 November 1970 in Buenos Aires.
Oscar Strasnoy studied piano, conducting, and composition with Laura Baade and Guillermo Scarabino at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música in Buenos Aires. He traveled to Europe in 1991 to undertake further study with Michaël Levinas, Guy Reibel, and Gérard Grisey at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP) and Hans Zender at the Frankfurt Hochschule für Musik.
Alongside his work as a composer, Strasnoy is active as a pianist and conductor. With countertenor Daniel Gloger, guitarist Pablo Márquez, contrabassist Eric Chalan, and percussionist Gabriel Said, he founded the Ego Armand Quintet. He was Musical Director of the CROUS Orchestra in Paris from 1996 to 1998, and has served as a guest conductor with Ensemble 2e2m, the Orchestre National d’Ile de France, and the Radio France and Nice Philharmonic Orchestras.
As a composer, he has received numerous grants and commissions from European and North and South American institutions, including the French Cultural Ministry, Mozarteum Argentino, Harvard University, Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Germany), the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Nadia Boulanger Foundation. His works have been performed at IRCAM, Musée d’Orsay, Strasbourg Musica Festival, Wigmore Hall, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Hamburg Opera, and the Opéra Comique in Paris by, among others, the Berlin and Radio France Philharmonic Orchestras.
He was a resident extra muros at Villa Medici in 1999, at Herrenhaus-Edenkoben in Germany in 2000 (at the behest of Peter Eötvös), at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in 2001-2002, and at Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto in 2003, and was composer in residence with Ensemble 2e2m for the 2005-2006 season, at the Arcs Festival in 2009, and at the Cornouaille Théâtre (Quimper, France) until 2012.
Theatre is at the heart of Strasnoy’s creative identity. His opera Midea, based on a text by Irina Possamai and performed in 2000 at the Teatro Caio Melisso (Spoleto, Italy) and the Rome Opera in 2001, was awarded the Orpheus Prize by Luciano Berio in 2000. Subsequent works of note include the cantata Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (2000), in which Strasnoy imagines a dialogue between Bach and Kafka (the recording of this piece was awarded the Académie du Disque Lyrique Prize); Ephemera (2000), a preparatory work for L’instant (2007); Opérette (2002) and Geschichte (2003), both settings of texts by Witold Gombrowicz; Fabula (2005) for countertenor and viola d’amore, a setting of a text by Alejandro Tantanian; Le bal (2008-2009), a commission of the Hamburg Opera; Cachafaz (2010), the “barbarian Tragedy of Copi,” directed by Benjamin Lazar and premiered at the Cornouaille Theatre in Quimper, with subsequent performances at the Paris Opéra comique; Случай/Fälle (2012), commissioned by the Bordeaux Opera; La Boîte (2013), commissioned by the Bouffes du Nord Theatre (Paris) and the Grand Theatre of the City of Luxembourg; Requiem after William Faulkner (2014); and the operas Comeback (2016) and Luther (2017), both with librettos by Christoph Hein.
Strasnoy also composes instrumental and vocal music which resonates with his lyrical and theatrical works, often comprising dialogues and montages of structures which he described as “urban” in his article Les stratifications de la mémoire (2e2m, coll. “À la ligne”, 2009). In this vein, he constructed his Bloc-notes series, made up of Ephemera and Midea, and the orchestral cycle Sum, comprising Scherzo (2005), The End (2006), Incipit and Y (both from 2011).
Recent accolades include the SACEM Grand Prix in 2010 and the SACD “New Musical Talent” Prize in 2011. Strasnoy taught composition at Acanthes in 2011 and was the featured composer at the Radio France Présences Festival in 2012, in which a retrospective of his catalogue was presented over 14 concerts at the Théâtre du Châtelet. In 2013, he was awarded the Francis and Mica Salbert Prize by SACEM.
© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2018
Sources
- Oscar Strasnoy (voir site du compositeur dans Ressources documentaires) ;
- Claude Samuel, biographie d’Oscar Strasnoy pour les éditions Billaudot ;
- Éditions Le Chant du Monde.
- Solo (excluding voice)
- Incognito for piano (1992, 1995), 10 mn, Billaudot
- elec Cinq pièces pour Britannicus de Racine for piano and digital tape (2001, 1995), 11 mn 44 s, Inédit
- De Colchide à Corinthe Midea 3 Notepad, for piano (1997), 10 mn, Billaudot
- Piano 4 five short pieces for piano (1999), 11 mn 15 s, Billaudot
- Acrobata for violin (2000), 4 mn
- Exercices de latinité three piano studies (2002), 8 mn 30 s, Billaudot
- Hana bi hommage à Maurice Ohana, piano piece n° 7 (2008), 10 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Ecos fourteen solo pieces (2009), 30 mn
- Double Ostinato for accordion (2015)
- 4. Juni for violin and 33-rpm record (2017)
- 24 Préludes for piano (2020)
- 3 pièces for violin (2020)
- Chamber music
- Inter-Alia for wind quintet (1993), 10 mn, Inédit
- Naipes for quintet (2005, 1995), 12 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Prélude for cello quartet (1999), 5 mn
- Bloc-notes d'Ephemera 2 seven small pieces for two pianos (2001), 13 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Derrumbe for soprano saxophone, bandoneon, percussion and double bass (2003), 2 mn 30 s, Lemoine
- Serial Toro for alto saxophone and percussion (2003), Lemoine
- Underground music for a silent film by Anthony Asquith (1928), for guitar, piano and percussion (2004), 1 h 24 mn, Inédit
- Funambules for flute and guitar (2008), 5 mn, Inédit
- Vague-Requiem for cello octet (2013), Billaudot
- Quintette for accordion and string quartet (2014)
- Three pieces for string quartet (2014)
- Ghost Stories for string quartet (2016)
- Two Schubert Menuets (tirés de "Fünf Menuette mit sechs Trios"), Nº 3 and Nº 5 arrangement for octet (2017)
- Instrumental ensemble music
- Départ for seven instruments (1994), 14 mn, Inédit
- Rook Jack n°1, for 46 wind instruments, double basses and percussions (1994), 7 mn 30 s, Inédit
- Bloc-notes de Midea 7 for ensemble (1997), Inédit
- Bloc-notes de Midea 4 for flute, clarinet, harp, piano, percussion and double bass (1998), 12 mn, Inédit
- Bloc-notes de Midea 5 for ensemble (1998), 10 mn 45 s, Le Chant du Monde
- Deux tangos for instrumental ensemble (1999), 6 mn, Lemoine
- Bloc-notes d'Ephemera 1 for eight instruments (2000), 10 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Scherzo Sum nº3, for orchestra (2005), 12 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Études for orchestra (2006), 12 mn
- The End Sum nº 4, for orchestra (2006), 9 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- La forza del destino intermission music from the opera Cachafaz, for eight musicians (2010), 8 mn, Billaudot
- Incipit Sum n° 1, for symphony orchestra (2011), 10 mn, Billaudot
- Y Sum n ° 2, for symphony orchestra (2011), 10 mn, Billaudot
- Flashbacks for ensemble (2017), 10 mn, Billaudot
- Ittingen Concerto for chamber orchestra (2017), 10 mn, Billaudot
- Zaunkönig und -gäste for orchestra (2019), 17 mn, Billaudot
- Concertant music
- Toy for piano and five percussionists (2006), 15 mn, Inédit
- Trois caprices de Paganini concerto for violin and orchestra based on Three caprices Op.1 by Niccolò Paganini. (2011), 20 mn, Billaudot
- Autmaton violin concerto (2016), 20 mn, Billaudot
- Kuleshov piano concerto (2017), 20 mn, Billaudot
- d'Amore for viola d'amore and ensemble (2018), 20 mn, Billaudot
- Romanze de Johannes Brahms Op. 118, Nº 5 arrangement for violin and orchestra (2019)
- Verschiedene Canones - Neue Auflösungen (nach J.S. Bachs Canones, BWV 1087) for baroque orchestra and percussion (2019)
- Vocal music and instrument(s)
- Bloc-notes de Midea 1 for mezzo-soprano and nine instruments (1996), 9 mn 50 s, Inédit
- Bloc-notes de Midea 2 for mezzo-soprano and ensemble (1996), 9 mn 27 s, Inédit
- elec Bloc-notes de Midea 6 for fifteen instruments, mezzo-soprano, haute-contre, actor and digital tape (1999), 22 mn 49 s, Inédit
- elec Bloc-notes de Midea 8 for voice, clarinet, piano and percussion (1999), 8 mn, Inédit
- elec stage Midea opera for soloists, instrumental ensemble, chamber choir and electronics (2002, 1996-1999), 2 h, Ricordi
- stage Ephemera musical show for four instrumentalists, two singers and two actors (2000), 45 mn, Inédit
- Hochzeitsvorbereitungen Secular cantata (2000, 2002, 2005), 55 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Nuovo inno italiano for voice, piano and instrumental ensemble (2002), 10 mn, Inédit
- stage Opérette (2002), 2 h 30 mn
- Six songs for the Unquiet Traveller for mezzo-soprano and ensemble (2004), 25 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- stage Fabula pocket opera for countertenor and viola d'amore (2005), 1 h 15 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- 6 Lieder für Ingrid Caven for female voice and piano (2006), 12 mn, Inédit
- Tognina Gonçalves declares for female voice and piano (2006), 3 mn
- stage L'instant opera for soloists, choir and orchestra (2007), 50 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Quodlibet cycle of melodies for countertenor, guitar, piano, double bass and percussion (2008), 60 mn, Inédit
- stage Le bal one-act opera for six solo voices and orchestra (2008-2009), 50 mn, Billaudot
- stage Cachafaz barbarian tragedy in two acts, for two solo voices, actor, choir and ensemble (2010), 1 h 30 mn, Billaudot
- Heine cycle de Lieder for mezzo-soprano and tenor and piano (2010), 23 mn, Billaudot
- stage Un retour one-act chamber opera (2009-2010), 60 mn, Billaudot
- Henry Purcell, Dido & Æneas for soloists and ensemble (2011), 55 mn, Billaudot
- Usages du monde for four-part children's or women's choir and ensemble (2011), 10 mn, Billaudot
- Odyssée for six solo voices, choir and ensemble (2012), 50 mn, Billaudot
- Случай/Fälle opera for six singers, choir and small orchestra (2012), 1 h 30 mn, Billaudot
- stage La Boîte opera (2013)
- stage Requiem opera in two acts (2014), 1 h 50 mn, Billaudot
- stage Comeback chamber opera (2016), 1 h 10 mn, Ricordi
- stage Luther opera (2017)
- Chanzuns Popularas Rumanchas for female voice and ensemble (2019)
- Für Felice for vocal ensemble (12 voices) and instrument ad libitum (2019)
- Trí Amhrán Ghaelacha for tenor and piano (2019)
- Saint François d'Assise d'Olivier Messiaen arrangement for reduced orchestra and choir (2020)
- A cappella vocal music
- stage Geschichte operetta a cappella, for six voices (2003), 60 mn
- sur Babel for a cappella choir (2007), 8 mn, Inédit
- sur Paris for a cappella choir (2007), 10 mn
- 3 Kamasutra Études for vocal ensemble (2020)
- Electronic music / fixed media / mechanical musical instruments
- elec Il triplo salto mortale (sopra la tomba del maestro) for magnetic tape (1994), 10 mn
- Unspecified instrumentation
- Müller song cycle (2014)
- 2020
- 24 Préludes for piano
- 3 Kamasutra Études for vocal ensemble
- 3 pièces for violin
- Saint François d'Assise d'Olivier Messiaen arrangement for reduced orchestra and choir
- 2019
- Chanzuns Popularas Rumanchas for female voice and ensemble
- Für Felice for vocal ensemble (12 voices) and instrument ad libitum
- Romanze de Johannes Brahms Op. 118, Nº 5 arrangement for violin and orchestra
- Trí Amhrán Ghaelacha for tenor and piano
- Verschiedene Canones - Neue Auflösungen (nach J.S. Bachs Canones, BWV 1087) for baroque orchestra and percussion
- Zaunkönig und -gäste for orchestra, 17 mn, Billaudot
- 2018
- d'Amore for viola d'amore and ensemble, 20 mn, Billaudot
- 2017
- 4. Juni for violin and 33-rpm record
- Flashbacks for ensemble, 10 mn, Billaudot
- Ittingen Concerto for chamber orchestra, 10 mn, Billaudot
- Kuleshov piano concerto, 20 mn, Billaudot
- stage Luther opera
- Two Schubert Menuets (tirés de "Fünf Menuette mit sechs Trios"), Nº 3 and Nº 5 arrangement for octet
- 2016
- Autmaton violin concerto, 20 mn, Billaudot
- stage Comeback chamber opera, 1 h 10 mn, Ricordi
- Ghost Stories for string quartet
- 2015
- Double Ostinato for accordion
- 2014
- Müller song cycle
- Quintette for accordion and string quartet
- stage Requiem opera in two acts, 1 h 50 mn, Billaudot
- Three pieces for string quartet
- 2013
- stage La Boîte opera
- Vague-Requiem for cello octet, Billaudot
- 2012
- Odyssée for six solo voices, choir and ensemble, 50 mn, Billaudot
- Случай/Fälle opera for six singers, choir and small orchestra, 1 h 30 mn, Billaudot
- 2011
- Henry Purcell, Dido & Æneas for soloists and ensemble, 55 mn, Billaudot
- Incipit Sum n° 1, for symphony orchestra, 10 mn, Billaudot
- Trois caprices de Paganini concerto for violin and orchestra based on Three caprices Op.1 by Niccolò Paganini., 20 mn, Billaudot
- Usages du monde for four-part children's or women's choir and ensemble, 10 mn, Billaudot
- Y Sum n ° 2, for symphony orchestra, 10 mn, Billaudot
- 2010
- stage Cachafaz barbarian tragedy in two acts, for two solo voices, actor, choir and ensemble, 1 h 30 mn, Billaudot
- Heine cycle de Lieder for mezzo-soprano and tenor and piano, 23 mn, Billaudot
- La forza del destino intermission music from the opera Cachafaz, for eight musicians, 8 mn, Billaudot
- stage Un retour one-act chamber opera, 60 mn, Billaudot
- 2009
- 2008
- Funambules for flute and guitar, 5 mn, Inédit
- Hana bi hommage à Maurice Ohana, piano piece n° 7, 10 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Quodlibet cycle of melodies for countertenor, guitar, piano, double bass and percussion, 60 mn, Inédit
- 2007
- 2006
- 6 Lieder für Ingrid Caven for female voice and piano, 12 mn, Inédit
- The End Sum nº 4, for orchestra, 9 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Tognina Gonçalves declares for female voice and piano, 3 mn
- Toy for piano and five percussionists, 15 mn, Inédit
- Études for orchestra, 12 mn
- 2005
- 2004
- Six songs for the Unquiet Traveller for mezzo-soprano and ensemble, 25 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- Underground music for a silent film by Anthony Asquith (1928), for guitar, piano and percussion, 1 h 24 mn, Inédit
- 2003
- Derrumbe for soprano saxophone, bandoneon, percussion and double bass, 2 mn 30 s, Lemoine
- stage Geschichte operetta a cappella, for six voices, 60 mn
- Serial Toro for alto saxophone and percussion, Lemoine
- 2002
- Exercices de latinité three piano studies, 8 mn 30 s, Billaudot
- Nuovo inno italiano for voice, piano and instrumental ensemble, 10 mn, Inédit
- stage Opérette, 2 h 30 mn
- 2001
- Bloc-notes d'Ephemera 2 seven small pieces for two pianos, 13 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- 2000
- Acrobata for violin, 4 mn
- Bloc-notes d'Ephemera 1 for eight instruments, 10 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- stage Ephemera musical show for four instrumentalists, two singers and two actors, 45 mn, Inédit
- Hochzeitsvorbereitungen Secular cantata, 55 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- 1999
- elec Bloc-notes de Midea 6 for fifteen instruments, mezzo-soprano, haute-contre, actor and digital tape, 22 mn 49 s, Inédit
- elec Bloc-notes de Midea 8 for voice, clarinet, piano and percussion, 8 mn, Inédit
- Deux tangos for instrumental ensemble, 6 mn, Lemoine
- elec stage Midea opera for soloists, instrumental ensemble, chamber choir and electronics, 2 h, Ricordi
- Piano 4 five short pieces for piano, 11 mn 15 s, Billaudot
- Prélude for cello quartet, 5 mn
- 1998
- Bloc-notes de Midea 4 for flute, clarinet, harp, piano, percussion and double bass, 12 mn, Inédit
- Bloc-notes de Midea 5 for ensemble, 10 mn 45 s, Le Chant du Monde
- 1997
- Bloc-notes de Midea 7 for ensemble, Inédit
- De Colchide à Corinthe Midea 3 Notepad, for piano, 10 mn, Billaudot
- 1996
- Bloc-notes de Midea 1 for mezzo-soprano and nine instruments, 9 mn 50 s, Inédit
- Bloc-notes de Midea 2 for mezzo-soprano and ensemble, 9 mn 27 s, Inédit
- 1995
- elec Cinq pièces pour Britannicus de Racine for piano and digital tape, 11 mn 44 s, Inédit
- Naipes for quintet, 12 mn, Le Chant du Monde
- 1994
- Départ for seven instruments, 14 mn, Inédit
- elec Il triplo salto mortale (sopra la tomba del maestro) for magnetic tape, 10 mn
- Rook Jack n°1, for 46 wind instruments, double basses and percussions, 7 mn 30 s, Inédit
- 1993
- Inter-Alia for wind quintet, 10 mn, Inédit
- 1992
- Incognito for piano, 10 mn, Billaudot
Discographie
- Oscar STRASNOY, The End (Sum #4) ; Y (Sum #2) ; Trois Caprices de Paganini ; Incipit (Sum #1) ; Scherzo (Sum #3), Latica Honda-Rosenberg, violon ; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Dima Slobodeniouk, Susanna Mälkki, direction, dans « Orchestral Works », 1 cd Aeon, 2013, AECD1331.
- Oscar STRASNOY, Un retour, 1 livre-disque Actes Sud, Musicatreize, 2010 M13/UR/1/1.
- Oscar STRASNOY, Hochzeitsvorbereitungen (mit B unt K) [Préparatifs de noce (avec B et K)], Monika Meier-Schmid, Daniel Gloger, Ensemble 2e2m, direction : Pierre Roullier, 1 cd Chant Du Monde - Harmonia Mundi 2007.
- Oscar STRASNOY, Deux tangos dans « Paris-Buenos Aires », comprenant Derrumbe et Mano Brava, Claude Delangle : saxophone et l’ensemble Tango Futur, avec des œuvres d’Astor Piazzolla, Gabriel Senanes, Juan Carlos Cobian, Gerardo Gandini, Luis Naón, Enrique Delfino, Julio-Martín Viera, Gustavo Beytelmann, Carlos Grätzer et Daniel Bozzani, 1 cd Bis records, 2003.
Bibliographie
- Oscar STRASNOY, La stratification de la mémoire, avec des articles de Dorota Zórawska-Dobrowolska, Dino Villatico, Federico Monjeau, Paul Kildea, Matthew Jocelyn, éditions À la ligne, Pascal Ianco, direction, Champigny sur Marne, 2e2m, 2009, 118 pages.
Sites Internet
- Site d’Oscar Strasnoy http://www.oscarstrasnoy.info
- Éditions Billaudot http://www.billaudot.com
- Éditions Chant du Monde, http://www.chantdumonde.com
(liens vérifiés en janvier 2018).