Aribert Reimann | |
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 Reimann in 2010 | |
| Born | 4 March 1936 Berlin, Germany |
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Aribert Reimann (born 4 March 1936) is a German composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of Shakespeare's King Lear, the opera Lear, was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who sang the title role. His opera Medea after Grillparzer's play premiered in 2010 at the Vienna State Opera. He was a professor of contemporary Lied in Hamburg and Berlin. In 2011, he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize for his life's work.
Reimann was born in Berlin. He studied composition, counterpoint and piano at the Musikhochschule Berlin with Boris Blacher and Ernst Pepping, among others. During his studies, he worked as a repetiteur at the Städtische Oper.[1] His first appearances as a pianist and accompanist were in 1957. In the early 1970s, he became a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. He was professor of contemporary Lied at the Musikhochschule Hamburg from 1974 to 1983, then at Berlin's Hochschule der Künste from 1983 to 1998.[1]
Besides his work as composer and music teacher, Reimann is co-editor and pianist of the Edition Zeitgenössisches Lied (contemporary song) CD series of the record laber Orfeo, edition, together with Axel Bauni.
Reimann's reputation as a composer has increased greatly with several great literary operas, including Lear and Das Schloß. Besides these, he has written chamber music, orchestral works and songs. He has been honoured repeatedly, including the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Order of Merit of Berlin.[2]
Invited by Walter Fink, he was the seventh composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 1997, in songs and chamber music with the Auryn Quartet, playing the piano himself.
His commissioned work, Cantus for Clarinet and Orchestra, dedicated to the clarinetist and composer Jörg Widmann, was premiered on 13 January 2006, in the WDR's Large Broadcasting Hall in Cologne, Germany, in the presence of the composer, who claims the work was inspired by Claude Debussy's compositions for clarinet.
His opera Medea, after Franz Grillparzer, was premiered at the Vienna State Opera in 2010, conducted by Michael Boder, with Marlis Petersen in the title role.[1][3]
In 2011 he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize "for his life's work".[1]
Reimann received many awards:[2][4]
