updated 16 December 2020
© Bettina Stoess

Iris ter Schiphorst

German composer born 22 May 1956 in Hamburg.

Iris ter Schiphorst started learning piano at an early age. At 22, she also took up the bass and drumkit. She went on to study theatre and philosophy in Berlin, while also attending classes led by Dieter Schnebel, Luigi Nono, and Helga de la Motte-Haber. With decades of experience performing in pop/rock bands as a pianist/keyboard player, bass player, drummer, and sound engineer, at the age of 40, Schiphorst became a self-taught composer.

Drawn to the writings of Derrida and Barthes, as well as Hélène Cixous, Eva Meyer, and the linguist Luce Iriguaray, Iris ter Schiphorst’s music shows a preoccupation with connections between music and speech. She collaborated with Helmut Oehring, whose parents were deaf-mute, on the composition of some fifteen works specifically intended for a deaf-mute audience, including the theatrical music pieces Bernarda Albas Haus (1999), EFFI BRIEST (2000), Mischwesen (1998), Polaroids (1996), and rumgammeln + warten (2001). Through the use of sign language in her works, ter Schiphorst seeks to re-connect language with its graphic origins.

Inspired by Lacan’s research on the perception of otherness, ter Schiphorst often attempts to unify her interest in language and her political activism. This is notably the case in her work Das Imaginäre nach Lacan (2017), in which a number of performers, defined by their costumes as “Westerners” and “non-Westerners,” collectively recite a series of ancient Arabic poems, thereby questioning the nature of the audience’s receptiveness to them according to archetypal prejudices.

Schiphorst also regularly addresses politics and inequality in her work. For example, Zerstören I [Destruction] (2005) for ensemble is a musical response to the attacks on the World Trade Center, while …meine-keine Lieder/die Aufgabe von Musik (2014) examines the intellectual climate under the Nazi regime through the use of the poetry of Inge Müller. She later addressed the issue of free speech in Assange: Fragmente einer Unzeit (2019) for female vocalist, ensemble, and sampler, a work which explicitly expresses support for the Wikileaks founder. In this vein, she has also directed documentaries, including Volk unter Verdacht [People under Suspicion], which examines the methods of the Stasi in the DDR.

She has worked with ensembles including the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Ictus, Mosaik, Neue Vokalsolisten, BIT-20, Musikfabrik, Ascolta, and the Arditti Quartet. She has been awarded numerous prizes and grants, including the Prize for Female Artists from the City of Heidelberg (2015). In 2013, she became a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts, and since 2015 has taught multi-media composition at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (MDW).

Her works are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Berlin.

Sources

Site de la compositrice.

  • Solo (excluding voice)
  • Chamber music
    • elec Ballade für einen Bulldozer for violin and synthesizer/sampler (1989), 9 mn
    • elec Ergo sum-pf-maschinerie for violin and synthesizer / sampler (1990), 9 mn
    • elec Eden cinema I for piano and sampler (1995), 18 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Prae-Senz (Ballet Blanc II) for violin, cello and prepared piano / sampler (1997), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec My Sweet Latin Lover II for amplified flute, electric guitar and live electronics (2002), 10 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec ... und Pommernland ist abgebrannt for wind trio (2003), 11 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • 'No, Sir...' for flute and Paetzold flute (2006-2007), 11 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Miniaturen version for cello and accordion (2008), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Miniaturen version for clarinet and accordion (2008), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Dislokationen II for violin, viola, cello, piano and sampler (2010), 25 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • stage Grüffelo musical theater for "The Gruffalo", based on Julia Donaldson's story (2011), 40 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec dead wire for piano and electronics (2011-2012), 19 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Aus Liebe... for string quartet (2013), 15 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec In deiner Hand? for timpani, percussion and live electronics (2016), 10 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Und doch... for string quartet (2018-2019), Boosey & Hawkes
  • Instrumental ensemble music
  • Concertant music
    • elec Dislokationen for orchestra and amplified piano (2008-2009), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Miniaturen version for clarinet and string quartet (2010), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • The Fall of the House of Usher music for the silent film by James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber (1928) (2014), 13 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Aus Liebe... II for violin and string orchestra (2015), 7 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Sometimes for piano, orchestra and sampler (2015), 6 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec JEDER for amplified contrabass clarinet, orchestra, samples and video (2016-2017), 24 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
  • Vocal music and instrument(s)
    • Terrible for voice, three trumpets, electric guitar, electric bass and percussion (1982)
    • Postludium aus Vergessenem for mixed choir and percussion (1985)
    • elec Liebesgeschwüre for voice, Western concert flute, two violins and synthesizer/sampler (1991), 10 mn
    • elec Nightdances for two voices, two violins, electric bass and synthesizer/sampler (1992), 8 mn
    • elec Polaroids for deaf performer, soprano, twelve instruments and live electronics (1996), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec LIVE (aus: Androgyn) 18 songs from the poem LIVE by Anne Sexton (1997), 23 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec LIVE (aus: Androgyn) version for countertenor, violin, cello, prepared piano / sampler and live electronics, 18 songs based on the poem LIVE by Anne Sexton (1997), 23 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Silence Moves I soundtrack for an imaginary film (1997), 60 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Silence Moves II for voice, ensemble, live electronics and film (1997), 25 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec A.N. (evita-che guevara-madonna) for two voices, eight instruments and live electronics (1998), 15 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Mischwesen for deaf-mute soloist, three trumpets and keyboard (1998), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Mischwesen for deaf-mute soloist, trumpet, bass clarinet, cello and keyboard (1998), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Mischwesen for deaf-mute soloist, trumpet, trombone, tuba and keyboard (1998), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Requiem for three countertenors, twelve instruments and electronics (1998), 55 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec stage Bernarda Albas Haus tanztheater (1999), 1 h 30 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec stage Der Ort ist nicht der Ort musical theater-action (2000), 1 h 10 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec stage EFFI BRIEST musical theater-psychogram in four acts (2000), 1 h 30 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Gestures for five male voices, prepared piano and magnetic tape (2001), 11 mn
    • elec rumgammeln + warten for solo voice, deaf woman, ensemble and CD (2001), 15 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec stage Euridice chamber opera for voices, choir, dancers, seven instruments and electronics (2001-2002), Boosey & Hawkes
    • Wie einen Wasserfisch for voice and eight instruments (2003), 14 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • stage Die Gänsemagd children's opera (2009), 60 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Passion 13 / Melodram for female voice and orchestra (2010), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec stage Aung for singer/performer, ensemble and electronics (2011), 30 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Studien zu Figuren for seven amplified solo voices and sampler (2011), 22 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec S.O.S. Odysseus for children's choir, two actors and orchestra (2012-2013), 45 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec ...meine-keine lieder / die aufgabe von musik scene for voice and ensemble (2014), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • Welcome to the pleasures: TISA VISA WiTiO ZETA NAFTA TiTiAiPi for bass clarinet, countertenor and ensemble (2014), 6 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec An den Stränden der Ruhe... 'wo die Sonne untergeht' for voices and chamber orchestra (2015), 15 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • ZEICHENKASKADEN version for singer with one drum and two contrabass clarinets (2015), 6 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Das Imaginäre nach Lacan for performer, orchestra, sampler and live electronics (2017), 23 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
    • elec Assange - Fragmente einer Unzeit for female voice, ensemble and sampler (2019), 20 mn, Boosey & Hawkes
  • A cappella vocal music

Liens Internet

(liens vérifiés en octobre 2020).

Discographie

  • Iris ter SCHIPHORST, Miniaturen, Uros Rojko : clarinette, Luka Juhart : accordéon, dans « Works for clarinet and accordion », 1 CD Neos, 2018, NEOS 11816.
  • Iris ter SCHIPHORST, Studie zu Figuren / Serie A, dans « Donaueschinger Musiktage 2011 », 3 CD NEOS, 2012, NEOS 11214-16.
  • Iris ter SCHIPHORST, Helmut OEHRING, Bernarda Alba Haus, Arno Raunig : soprano, Christina Schönfeld : voix ; Jörg Wilkendorf : guitare électrique, Peter Kowald : contrebasse, Markus Reschtnewki, piano, dans « Tanztheater: Motive der Weltliteratur », 1 CD RCA Red Seal, 2004, 74321 73577 2.
  • Iris ter SCHIPHORST, Helmut OEHRING, Polaroids, dans « Visible Music », 1 CD RCA Red Seal, 2004, 74321 73651 2.
  • Iris ter SCHIPHORST, Helmut OEHRING, im Vormonat… ; LEUCHTER ; gestauchte WINKEL ; Rapid-Eye-Movement ; LIVE, dans « Kammermusik », 1 CD Ars Musici, 2000, AM 1250-2.
  • Iris ter SCHIPHORST, Helmut OEHRING, Requiem, dans « Donaueschinger Musiktage 1998 », 4 CD col legno, 1999, WWE 4CD 20050.
  • Iris ter SCHIPHORST, Helmut OEHRING, Pra-Senz, Ensemble Ictus, dans « Chamber Music », 1 CD Cypres, 1999, CYP5602.