Beat Furrer: A composer between sound, silence and dramaturgy

Beat Furrer: A composer between sound, silence and dramaturgy

December 6, 2024 marks a special day in the life of the renowned contemporary composer Beat Furrer, who celebrates his 70th birthday today. Furrer not only made a name for himself by founding the Klangforum Vienna in 1985, but also through his innovative work, transforming language into music and using silence as an expression. In 2018 he was awarded the Siemens Prize for his impressive oeuvre, which is endowed with 250,000 euros, as vienna.at reported.

Beat Furrer, born in Schaffhausen in 1954, studied in Vienna and not only brought the sound forum to international fame, but also wrote several important operas, including "The Blind" and the opera "violet snow" in 2019. Already on March 23, 2025, his new music theater work "The Great Fire" will be premiered at the Zurich Opera. The cooperation with significant literates also shapes his work, which specializes in integrating complex texts and their sounds into his music. The impressive relationship between Furrer and the Klangforum Vienna also becomes clear in numerous interviews, in which musicians: inside report how much his vision has influenced her sound, as Furrer70.klangforum.at described.

a lifelong musical heritage

The close connection between Beat Furrer and the Klangforum Vienna is not only shown in the works played, but also in the creative evolution of his music over the years. Furrer's musical vocabulary has clearly developed and still remains dynamic and fresh. Over the years, musicians have been referred to as "children of beat" on the inside of the sound forum, since his aesthetic ideas and techniques, such as the extremely quiet play and working together on sound colors, are deeply rooted in their musical understanding. His music remains permeated by literary inspiration, and his instrumental music becomes increasingly 'singing ’how very clearly can be observed in his last compositions.