Harald Muenz

Born 1965 in Schwäbisch Hall / Germany, Harald studied composition under Helmut Lachenmann (1994-97), Krzysztof Meyer (1988-93), Johannes Fritsch, and Clarence Barlow, as well as in the Electronic Studio of Hochschule für Musik Cologne (Hans-Ulrich Humpert), and Cologne University’s Phonetic Institute (Georg Heike).
 
Besides his international career as a composer of instrumental, vocal and electroacoustic music, Harald is active as lecturer and author, and is the editor of a book on Italian composer Franco Evangelisti (Saarbrücken: Pfau, 2002). He was the Artistic Director of the Electronic Studio at Musikhochschule Lübeck and from 2001-2005 he was the module leader for Aesthetic Phonetics at Cologne University. His compositions are available on several CDs. Together with his vocal trio "sprechbohrer" he is performing speech art in various formats (Wergo CD 2011).
 
In 2005, he joined the Centre for Contemporary Music Practice at Brunel University West London as a full-time permanent lecturer with the focus on composition. He is an interdisciplinary artist commuting between Cologne and London.

Research Overview

Composition (instrumental, orchestral, vocal), Sonic Arts, Phonetics

Teaching Activity

Composition (instrumental, orchestral, vocal), Sonic Arts, Phonetics

Harald’s music is being performed by important musicians throughout Europe, in South Korea and the US, amongst others by ensemble mosaik (Berlin), Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), Apartment House (London), Alter Ego (Rome), musikFabrik (Cologne), Neue Vocalsolisten (Stuttgart), and the Berlin Philharmonics. His works have been heard at numerous festivals (among others at the Donaueschinger Musiktage) and have been broadcast nationally and internationally.

He has received many bursaries and prizes, including the Research Grant NRW, Förderpreis Musik NRW, Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann-Stipendium Köln, and the Villa Aurora Los Angeles grant by the German Secretary of State.

A portrait CD with his instrumental music played by ensemble mosaik funded by Kunststiftung NRW will be published in autumn 2011 with Coviello Classics; CDs with electronic music appeared under Cybele Records and Wergo, among others. The music magazine MusikTexte (vol. 103, Nov. 2004) focused on his work.

He is also a member of sprechbohrer, a vocal trio performing speech sound art, which has realised the first integral performance of Hans G Helms's legendary Fa:m' Ahniesgwow (released as a Wergo 2-CD-box in 2011).

Publications

Journal Papers

(2010) Muenz, H., “Live random concepts and sight-reading players - the role of the computer in the era of digested digitalism”, Contemporary Music Review 29 (1) : 81- 87

(2009) Muenz, H., "Feedback Ende!" Gedanken um Johannes Fritsch, MusikTexte (122) : 59- 61

(2009) Muenz, H., "Fortschritt des kritischen Bewußtseins" Heinz-Klaus Metzger nachgerufen, MusikTexte (123) : 41- 43

(2009) Muenz, H., Zum kreativen Potential des Fehlers. Statements von KomponistInnen und MusikerInnen: Harald Muenz, positionen (79) : 37- 38

(2008) Muenz, H., Vertreter einer aussterbenden Gattung. Karlheinz Stockhausen ✝, MusikTexte (116) : 66- 68

() MUENZ, H., Pieroni., Durmuskahya, C., BASER, C., AKBULUT, M. and Andrea., Traditional phytotherapy and trans-cultural pharmacy among Turkish migrants living in Cologne, Germany, (102) : 69- 88

(2004) Muenz, H., Begrenzungen überschreiten – die Ästhetische Phonetik als Brücke zu einem anderen Umgang mit Musik als akustischer Kunstform., MusikTexte 103 63- 65

(2003) MUENZ, H., Pieron., Giusti, ME., Andrea., Lenzarini, C., Turkovic, G. and Turkovic, A., Ethnobotanical knowledge of the Istro-Romanians of Zejane in Croatia Fitoterapia, (74) : 710- 719