‘Waltz Delusion’ and the ‘Otherness’
A cosmopolitan city, musically and otherwise, Vienna attracts music students from all over the world, and they in turn bring their cultures with them and make the city of Vienna with its two music universities and some 3000 music students a musical melting pot. Those who (may) stay often find themselves as instrumentalists in ensembles, orchestras or even become teachers at a state or private institution.
But what happens to the cultural diversity of students, especially those who study a creative subject such as composition? How does a city like Vienna, which is only too fond of its “waltz delusion”, deal with the “other” and the “otherness”? And how do creative musicians themselves handle their roots?
A graduate of the Academy of Music in Vienna, Wolfgang Liebhart continued his postgraduate studies in composition Liebhart attended a postgraduate course in composition at Sussex University in 1991/92, studing with Jonathan Harvey.
After returning to Austria he received a multitude of commissions, among them a work for the orchestra and choir of the Austrian Radio. In 1994/95 he lived in Rome studying privately with the Italian composer Luca Lombardi. During his stay, numerous compositions were performed in the eternal city. Back to Vienna, he began to work as a free-lance composer. During the last years Liebhart has composed a number of commissioned works for various instrumental combinations. Among these are orchestral pieces compositions for chamber ensembles and smaller groups. From 2000 to 2004 Liebhart was the president of the iscm (International Society of Contemporary Music) Austrian Section.Since 2002 Liebhart is teaching composition, electronic music and instrumentation at Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.He has given lectures in a number of universities, such as Capetown, Manchester, Shanghai Conservatory, Taipei and Hong Kong Baptist University. In June 2016 Liebhart’s composition SEIZED for mixed ensemble was performed at the ISCM Musicarama in Hong Kong
https://www.wolfgangliebhart.com
https://soundcloud.com/wolfgangliebhart
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