Moritz Eggert

Moritz Eggert, composer and pianist

Moritz Eggert (*1965, Heidelberg) studied piano and composition at Dr.Hoch´s Konservatorium in Frankfurt (with Wolfgang Wagenhaeuser and Claus Kuehnl), at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt (with Leonard Hokanson) and in Munich at the Musikhochschule Muenchen (with Wilhelm Killmayer). Later he continued his piano studies with Raymund Havenith in Frankfurt, and his composition studies with Hans-Jürgen von Bose in Munich. In 1992 he spent a year in London as a post-graduate composition student with Robert Saxton at the Guildhall School for Music and Drama.

Moritz Eggert has covered all genres in his work – his oeuvre includes 6 operas as well as ballets and works for dance and music theatre, often with unusual performance elements. 1997 German TV produced a feature-length film portrait about his music. His main duo partner is the cellist Sebastian Hess. In 1996 he presented the complete works for piano solo by Hans Werner Henze for the first time in one concert, a programme that he continues to play with great success. In 1989 he was a prizewinner at the International Gaudeamus Competition for Performers of Contemporary Music.

As a composer Moritz Eggert has been awarded with prizes like the composition prize of the Salzburger Osterfestspiele, the Schneider/Schott-prize, the „Ad Referendum“-prize in Montréal, the Siemens Förderpreis for young composers, and the Zemlinsky Prize. 2003 he became a member of the “Bayerische Akademie der Schoenen Kuenste”. 1991 he founded - together with Sandeep Bhagwati - the A*Devantgarde festival for new music, which took place for the 7th time in June 2003. His concert-length cycle for piano solo, „Haemmerklavier“, is among his best known works and has been performed around the world.

Among his recent works are the concert-length cycle for voice and piano „Neue Dichter Lieben“ featuring 20 love poems by contemporary German poets, and the orchestra piece „Number Nine IV: Scapa Flow“. Other recent premieres include the children’s opera „Dr. Booger’s Scary Scheme“ for the opera Frankfurt am Main (a collaboration with librettist Andrea Heuser) and a song-cycle for Jazz Ensemble produced by the CD-label “between the lines” called “wide unclasp” (based on poems by the American poet Anne Sexton). June 2004 saw the premiere of his newest large scale opera “The Snail”, a collaboration with the renowned director and author Hans Neuenfels (Mannheim opera house). Currently he is working on a double bass concerto for the award-winning “Junges Klangforum Mitte Europas, and a huge “soccer oratorio” for the Ruhrtriennale 2005 and the Soccer World Championship 2006.