Bernhard Lang
Composer
Bernhard Lang (1957, Linz, Austria) studied piano at the
Bruckner Konservatorium and then moved to Graz to study jazz piano, classical
piano, and arranging, as well as philosophy and German philology. After finishing
his piano studies, Lang studied with a variety of teachers. He took courses in
composition with Polish composer Andrej Dobrowolsky, who introduced him to the
techniques of new music. Hermann Markus Pressl taught Lang counterpoint and introduced him to the work of Josef Matthias Hauer.
Gösta Neuwirth instructed Lang in composition. And Georg Friedrich Haas
introduced him to microtonal music, and then commissioned Lang to write a
quartertone piece for the Musikprotokoll festival in 1988.
In 1998, he lectured
in Peter Weibel’s Media class in Vienna and also began teaching classes of his
own in music theory, harmony, and counterpoint at the University of Music and
Dramatic Arts in Graz, where he has held a professorship in Composition
since 2003. Lang’s main interest is music theater, derived from his interpretations
of the ideas of difference/repetition – Theater of Repetitions (2003), I Hate
Mozart (2006), and The Old Man from the Mountain (2007) – but he has also worked
extensively in collaboration with choreographers, such as Xavier Le Roy, Christine
Gaigg, and Willi Dorner.
His list of works includes various sound
installations, among them Schwarze Bänder, Musica Viva (2005). At the Institute
for Electronic Music Graz, Lang developed the Loop-Generator and the Visual Loop
Generator together with Winfried Ritsch and Thomas Musil. In 2006, he was the
featured artist of the Wien Modern Festival in Vienna.
He also performs live as an improviser both solo and in duos, and currently
lives in Vienna.
