Biography - Important events
February 2024: German Music Author Award 2024 in the category "Composition Percussion"
November 2023: Performance concert AtemWende in interaction with the exhibition ENDLESS by Sarkis at the Museum ARTER Istanbul/Turkey
November 2023: Concert as part of the Festival de Música Contemporânea de Évora 2023 Anniversary concert - 10 years of Ensemble DME
October 2023: Participation in the VI International Composition Competition GMCL/Jorge Peixinho
April 2023: Workshop and performance concert at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam Creative Performance Lab @ ICK Dans Amsterdam
January 2023: Project Good-Bye Paradise? for the exhibition This Play at the ARTER Museum of Contemporary Art with the Hezarfen Ensemble.
December 2022: Workshop/concert at BAU University Istanbul (Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi) at Barın Han Art House.
December 2022/January 2023: Artist-in-Residence at the artist residency Galata of the Kunststiftung NRW in Istanbul.
October/November 2022: Guest professorship at the Instituto Escuela Universitaria de Música Montevideo/Uruguay in cooperation with the Festival Monteaudio22 and concert in Buenos Aires
October 2022: Release of the CD Piano Music by Gerhard Stäbler | Kunsu Shim with Martin Tchiba, piano
May/September 2022: Concert series Musik der (Un)Ruhe/Music of (Dis)Quiet in Duisburg and Essen
Spring 2022: Artist-in-Residence at the artist residency Galata of the Kunststiftung NRW in Istanbul
October 2021: Workshop, discussion concert with and premiere of all is to be dared at the Dresden University of Music
July 2021: Course for young composers at Palazzo Ricci/European Academy for Music and Performing Arts
Montepulciano (Italy)
June 2021: Workshop/concert with the International Ensemble Modern Academy at the HfMDK Frankfurt
May 2021: LiveStreams of the performance concerts TIEFEN·SCHÄRFE in the context of the Muziek Biennale Niederrhein with DVD release
February/April/May 2021: Video recordings with the Minguet Quartet, the pianist Catherine Vickers and the Ensemble S201
November 2020: Music Lecture and concert with partial premiere at the symposium #HighTech = #HighHumanism?! of the Dresden University of Music
November 2020: World premiere of Pure Freude as part of the concert project Heimspiel at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf
October 2020: Start of the concert series Quadrophonien
August 2020: EarFest Summer - KlangAkzente: Three short concerts in times of immobility and remote transience
August 2020: Publication of the anthology with CD DAZWISCHEN. The Collaboration of Composers Kunsu Shim and Gerhard Stäbler, edited by Elisabeth von Leliwa
June 2020: Radio portrait by Margarete Zander on rbb Kultur
February 2020: Concert, lecture and performance at ZEITSTRÖME 2020 Darmstadt;
January/February 2020: Winter Academy DAS SCHÖNE, DAS FREMDE with workshops/concerts in Duisburg, Düsseldorf and OPENING20 Trier
December 2019: Double portrait concerts Shim - Stäbler at Kunststation Sankt Peter Cologne and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
October 2019: Korea tour
September-November 2019: 70th birthday portrait concerts in Cologne and Duisburg / world premiere GAME with Ensemble Aventure / Tonhalle Düsseldorf
September 2019: Jury member of the Gaudeamus Muziekweek and world premiere Four Engravings with Asko|Schönberg
July 2019: A celebration for Gerhard Stäbler as part of the Festival Sommer in Stuttgart to mark Stäbler's 70th birthday
April-June 2019: German premiere and follow-up dates of the youth opera SIMON at the Schauburg Munich
April/May 2019: World premieres of HÖR·FLECKEN and Den Müllfahrern von San Francisco (orchestral version commissioned by WDR) at the festival Eight Bridges | Music for Cologne.
February/March 2019: Scholarship holder of the artist residency Istanbul of the Kunststiftung NRW
January 2019: Workshop/concert at the Creative PerformanceLab Amsterdam
October/November 2018: GENERATIONS - performance concerts in Duisburg, Cologne, Essen and London
October 2018: Korea tour - including continuation of TRIALOGUE with Kyungwoo Chun
September/October 2018: Youth opera SIMON at Landestheater Linz
May-July 2018: World premiere and follow-up dates of DAHINSTRÖMEND, SINGEND and ]KERAMES, PARALÍA[ at Ulm Theatre
April 2018: Start of the SoundArt workshops KlangKunstLabor for people with dementia at EarPort.
March/April 2018: USA trip with lectures and concerts (e.g. University of North Texas/Denton, Ragdale Foundation, North Western University Evanston, Chicago)
February 2918: Masterclass EXTENDED VOICES at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart
January-July 2018: world premiere and follow-up dates Wie klingt Nimmerland? a Children's musical theatre based on motifs from Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie at Münster Theatre
January 2018: NATURE IN MUSIC. Listening school for young and adult audiences at EarPort Duisburg
October 2017: Composition Masterclass at University of Montevideo, Uruguay
May 2017: Revival of the youth opera Simon at Norske Opera Oslo
March 2017: Premiere Ausgewilderte Farben (Concerto for Orchestra) Wurzburg Philhamonic Orchestra
November 2016: Asian Premiere of TSUKI SUBARU for sho and orchestra at Gwangju (South Korea)
September 2016: Premiere of the performance Dancing Senses at Bergen Assembly 2016
August/September 2016: PerformanceKonzert and discussion panel in Seoul
February-October 2016: Project Im Gegenüber for the Diocese of Wurzburg
February/March 2016: PerformanceConcerts Donnerhall in the context of the GROSSE Kunstausstellung NRW at Kunstpalast Dusseldorf
February 2016: Premiere of the performance program Vitality Forms with Alwynne Pritchard and Kunsu Shim at Festival OPENING 16 in Trier
January 2016: 3rd International Academy for new PerformanceMusic WinterDreams at Schloss Benrath Dusseldorf
October/December 2015: Re-Opening of EarPort in Duisburg
October/November 2015: South America tour (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata)
September 2015: Publication of the first English book about Gerhard Stäbler by Paul Attinello (Hg.): Gerhard Stäbler … live the opposite daring …
August/September 2015: USA tour (St. Paul/Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles)
June 2015: Premiere of THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO(THING)... at Bergen Festival Norwegen
May 2015: Premiere of AUSREISSEN DAMIT / ES GRUEN BLEIBT for soloists, choirs and ensembles at the festival "Acht Bruecken" at the Cologne Philharmonic
April 2015: Premiere of the Music-theatre The Colour at Franconia Wurzburg Theatre
February 2015: Premiere of the chamber youth opera Simon at the Norske Opera Oslo
June/July 2014: Premiere and further performances of the music theatre Erlöst Albert E. at the Theater Ulm
June 2014: concert and master class at the congress LOST & FOUND. Stimme. Musik. Szene / Staatl. Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Künste Stuttgart
May 2014: Premiere of the solo piece Messenger of Spring at Bergen Festival/Norway
March 2014: Premiere of the solo piece Change! at Borealis Festival Bergen/Norway
February 2014: Participation in the festival Schönes Wochenende at the Tonhalle Duesseldorf
January 2014: 1st International Academy for New PerformanceMusic WinterTräume at Schloss Benrath, Duesseldorf
December 2013: Portugal tour with portrait concerts and master classes in Lissabon, Seia and Porto at the invitation of Dias de Musica Electroacustica
December 2013: Start of the new series Natürlich schön! - Konzerte mit Musik und Performance in Schloss Benrath, Duesseldorf
November 2013: Japan and South Korea tour with concerts in Tokyo (Ryogoku Monten Hall) and Seoul (Goethe Institute and Total Museum)
August 2013: Joint work with choreographers Avi Kaiser and Sergio Antonino for duistanz 1
March 2013: PerformanceConcert at the Art Museum Reikjavik/Iceland
Februar 2013: Another invitation to the festival OPENING 13 at the TUFA Trier/Germany
January 2013: Start of a series of PerformanceConcerts at the Kunsthalle Duesseldorf
December 2012: Concert at the festival rainy days/Philharmonie Luxembourg
October/November 2012: Curator, composer and performer at CAGE 100 - a project of the Tonhalle Duesseldorf
October 2012: Portrait concert at Saarländischer Rundfunk
September 2012: Several concerts at the Muziekbiennale Niederrhein
June 2012: Premiere of FUTURESSENCEXXX in San Francisco/USA
June 2012: Premiere of the music theatre KASSANDRA: LIEDER DER FREMDE at the Theater Ulm
April 2012: Conference, workshop and concert at Leeds University/UK
April 2012: Premiere of the dance theatre The Drift by Helge Letonja as a joint work with Kunsu Shim and with pictures by Kyungwoo Chun in Ludwigshafen with further performances in Bremen, Catania/Sicilia and at the Staatsoper Hannover
March 2012: Lecturer at the „First Kiev International master class for New Music (COURSE)”
February 2012: Concerts and performances at OPENING 12 - internationales festival für aktuelle klangkunst, Trier/Germany
December 2011: Performances as part of the HEINE-NACHT at the Heinrich-Heine-Institute Duesseldorf
October 2011: Premiere of Nähte der Luft at CONTRASTS - XVII. International Festival for New Music in Lviv/Ukraine
September 2011: Composer-in-Residence of the Lithuanian Ensemble Network
July 2011: International master class for composition at The Europäische Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Montepulciano/Italy
Mai 2011: Premieres in Venice, Nuremberg and Copenhagen
Februar 2011: Composer-in-Residence of the festival OPENING 11 - internationales festival für klangkunst, Trier/Germany
October 2010: Premiere of the Goethe Institute's commission STEINE, eine konzertante Intervention in Kiev/Ukraine
September 2010: Artistic direction of the festivals Hör·Sinne in Duisburg and Essen
March 2010: Composer-in-Residence at Borealis Festival in Bergen/Norway
February 2010: „S. sendet” – Artistic direction of the 2nd Academy Project's final presentation at the Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Hellerau (Dresden)
January 2010: Publication of the trilingual book bild·klang·los – ein Trialog by Kyungwoo Chun, Kunsu Shim and Gerhard Stäbler
December 2009: elements (acute) – Workshop and performance with Siegrun Appelt at Ruhrlights: Twilight Zone in Vilnius as an exchange project of the Cultural Capital Vilnius 2009 and the City of Duisburg/Cultural Capital Ruhr 2010 in cooperation with Goethe Institute Vilnius
November 2009: Premiere of FERNE / NÄHE (II) für string quartet and percussion as part of the congress „Proust und die Musik” at the Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
August 2009: Invitation to Dreaming Europe – real Europe, eu-art-network Workshop as part of Linz09/Cultural Capital of Europe;, i.a. premiere of Schatten.Träume for ensemble
June 2009: Premiere of Winde – Entlang des Hanges for recorder and orchestestra by Jeremias Schwarzer and the Bochum Symphony. Commissioned by the Kunststiftung NRW
March 2009: Performances, concerts and exhibitions as part oft the „TRIALOG” project with Kyungwoo Chun (video artist) and Kunsu Shim in Seoul, Korea
Februar 2009: Portrait concert at the National Tchaikovsky Music Akademy Kiev (Ukraine)
November 2008: Lebanon tour with Kunsu Shim and pianist Seonkyung Kim
September 2008: Invitation to Klangspuren Schwaz (Austria)
July 2008: Two new works presented in the frame of the well known Darmstädter Ferienkurse: ...ins Offene... for the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and ]upon dry land[ for Duo Konflikt
January 2008: Successfull premiere of the music theatre Letzte Dinge in Frankfurt/Main
October 2007: Two premieres in the frame of Dresdner Days for Contemporary Music
May 2007: Premiere of Wasser. Zeichen for soprano, symphony orchestra, aleatoric ensemble and electronics. Wasser.Zeichen was commissioned and presented by Philharmonie Südwestfalen (dir. Russel N. Harris) and Annette Robbert (soprano).
April 2007: Premiere of the duo If not, Winter for koto and renaissance tenor recorder in the frame of the concert serie Global Ear
March 2007: Gerhard Stäbler and Kunsu Shim: Changes - a project presented at Macedonian University Thessaloniki/Greece
January 2007: Premiere of TSUKI, SUBARU for Sho-solo and orchestra (2005/06) with Mayumi Miyata (Sho) commissioned and presented by Duisburg philharmonics (dir. Johannes Kalitzke)
October 2006: "Portrait Gerhard Stäbler" in Duisburg (Haniel academy) and Duesseldorf (Tonhalle) with premieres of Nachtstücke for voice, piano and string quartet and the quintet white spaces for soprano and string quartet combined with a video by Kyungwoo Chun
September 2006: Premiere of the chamber opera Nachmittagssonne based on poems by Konstantinos Kavafis, commissioned by Seoul Contemporary Oper Company, at Baekjunyon Ginyomkwan (Yonsei University, Seoul).
May 2006: Composer-in-Residence at the Festival Mouvement - Music in 21st century in Saarbruecken
November 2005: Music for the dance productions Brüche (J.E.T.) and Wenn der Fluss zum Meer wird (Sabine Seume Tanztheater) at tanzhaus NRW/Duesseldorf
September 2005: Socio-musical project SoundWall in Maria-courtyard in Trier, as part of the SCHW!ING Festival presented by TUFA Trier/Germany
May 2005: Composer-in-Residence at the University for Music und Theater Arts, Graz (Austria)
April/May 2005: USA concert tour with performance concerts and workshops in San Francisco, Santa Rosa und in the Pacific Rim Music Festival in Santa Cruz
February 2005: Participation in the Europe concert tour of the Japanese sho virtuoso Mayumi Miyata with performances of new works – …unter Glas vergessen…, duo for sho and violin, Spectre, for solo sho, and, purple rugs, for ensemble – in Greece, Germany, France and Luxembourg
December 2004: Japan concert tour including the world premiere of the duo, ]LIFE[ for hichiriki (Hitomi Nakamura) and sho (Mayumi Miyata) at the Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall
Autumn 2004: In collaboration with Kunsu Shim, artistic direction of the event series UltraWaves in Greece (Rethymnon/Crete and Athens); Composition commissions for, i.a. others:
The Langen Foundation for the opening of the Tadao Ando Museum on the Rocket Station of the Hombroich Island Museum in Neuss – ]Desires[ for soprano and percussion
The Saarbrücken Chamber Music Days – ]with what eyes[ for violin, horn and organ
Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum Foundation – Installation KantParkStage
Spring 2004: Guest professor at the American State College Evergreen (Washington State)
Autumn 2003: Awarded the Duisburger Musikpreis 2003. Commissions of the English ensemble "The Apartment House", of the Bayerischer Rundfunk and the Dresdner Tage fuer zeitgenoessische Musik. Concerts and lectures in Seoul.
Autumn 2002: Canada-USA-Ireland tour with concerts, workshops and lectures in Montréal, Toronto, New York and Dublin
2002: Composer-in-Residence at Deutsche Oper am Rhein Duesseldorf-Duisburg (Premieres of the opera Madame la Peste: Duisburg April 26, Düsseldorf May 24; Saarbrücken June 15)
October 2001: Double-portrait with Kunsu Shim at Ultima, contemporary music-festival in Oslo/Norway; essentiellement, a project with Avi Kaiser and Christine Brunel for Folkwangfest der Kuenste" in Essen; music for the dance-project Endstation Zaspa by Avi Kaiser (theatre Gdansk and tanzhaus NRW/Duesseldorf).
May 2001: PresencePräsenz given at the festival Duisburg Akzente 2001; commission by Essen Philharmonic Orchestra for TIMESCAPE, a piece for solo-percussion and orchestra.
April 2001: Composer-in-Residence at the festival Utopie jetzt"; premiere of Väter Söhne Geister at Theater Bielefeld.
March 2001: South Korea tour and participation in a jury of hte composition competition in Seoul/Pusan (Korea)
2000 Commission by EXPO 2000 for the works energy.light.dream and spatial ayres for soprano, baritone, ensemble, orchestra and electronic sounds (world premieres as part of the project "In den Stunden des Neumondes" at Kraftwerk Vockerode [Dessau]); lectures and seminars in Korea und Hong Kong; world première of the opera CassandraComplex after Christa Wolf at the Hessische Staatstheater Wiesbaden; project kalt.erhitzt, Abgesang auf 113 Flügel, a composition for 113 grand pianos (Festival Tuchfühlung, Langenberg [Germany]); project "futuressence xxx", multimedia performance, première New Langton Arts Theater, San Francisco.
1999 Time for Tomorrow, 25 Futuristic Acts, commission from Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel/Marstall in cooperation with the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe; "EarMarks" and "LandMarks" in various factories of the Ruhr Area; musical project "Changes" commissioned by Siemens Kulturprogramm Munich and world premiere of ohne netz und doppelten boden for opening the festival Dresdner Tage für zeitgenössische Musik at the Gemäldegalerie Neue Meister Dresden; commission of the KulturRuhr and grant of the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie
1998 Concert and lecture tour to London (BBC and Royal Academy of Music); lecture at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, where he organized the workshop and the composition [voix(time)] for 8 composers and 3 video artists; portrait Gerhard Stäbler at the 12. Weingartener Tage für Neue Musik; composer-in-residence, together with Kunsu Shim, at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Chicago
1997 Tour to Israel; composer-in-residence at the ensemble The Apartment House, London; multimedia project Poetic Arcs in Duisburg; lectures at the Brandenburgisches Kolloquium (Schloss Rheinsberg) and at the Netzwerk Saar / Tage für Interpretation und Aufführungspraxis Saarbrücken
1996 Portrait concert and masterclass at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow; composer-in-residence at the Sonorities Festival Belfast (Northern Ireland) and at June in Buffalo (USA); leads the International Meeting for Young Composers - EarTalk in Greece; scholarship from the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe
1995 Artistic director of the ISCM World Music Days, Ruhrgebiet; tour of Lebanon and Brazil; member of the jury at the International Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam); lectures at McGill University, Montréal and at Princeton University (USA)
1994 Scholarship from the Japan Foundation; lectures at the Akiyoshidai International Festival (Japan)
1993 Guest professor at Northwestern University; the Initiativkreis Ruhrgebiet commissions the opera CassandraComplex after Christa Wolf's novel; artistic director of the Jornadas de Música Contemporânea, Porto/Portugal
1992 Composer-in-Residence at Northwestern University in Chicago; teaches at the Internationale Ferienkurse at Darmstadt (also in 1994)
1991 Concert- and lecture-tour in Japan and Korea; organization of the festival for new music Mit Stimmen, Ruhrgebiet
1990 Guest at the Composer-to-Composer festival in Telluride/USA and at the Internationale Ferienkurse für neue Musik Darmstadt; Prix de la Ville de Digne-les-Bains
1990 Co-organizer of the festival Ex Machina 90 for electronic and computer music at the Folkwang-Hochschule, Essen; Co-founder of the Gesellschaft für Neue Musik Ruhr (1991-95 chairmanship)
1989 Organizes Active Music '89 at New York, a series of concerts as part of the festival Ruhrworks
1988 Lectures at the Yonsei University, Seoul
1987-88 Scholarship Künstlerhof Schreyahn/Germany
1986-87 and 1993 Djerassi Artist-in-Residence/USA
1985-86 Fellowship from the Heinrich-Strobel-Stiftung (Südwestfunk) Since 1986 Aktive Musik in the Ruhrgebiet, organizing concerts and festivals
Since 1985 Numerous tours in the USA and Canada: concerts, lectures and teaching (amongst others, Yale University; Columbia University/New York; Wesleyan University/Connecticut; University of Illinois, Urbana; McGill University, Montréal; Princeton University; Simon Fraser University, Vancouver)
1983 and 1986 Worked at the computer music center at Stanford University/USA
1983 Wins the composers' competition Ensemblia at Mönchengladbach
1982 Cornelius Cardew Memorial Prize, London
1968-76 Studied music in Detmold (1968-70) and Essen (1970-76). Composition with Nicolaus A. Huber, organ with Gerd Zacher
1949 Born in Wilhelmsdorf, near Ravensburg, on July 20
