Short Biography

Composition

Gerhard Stäbler (born 1949) is one of the most distinguished composers of his generation. A continuous series of composition commissions (including Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Musica Viva of Bayerischer Rundfunk, Festival Mouvement of Saarländischer Rundfunk, WDR Cologne and Kunststiftung NRW) and repeated invitations as composer-in-residence (e.g. Three Two New York, Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf-Duisburg, Sonic Fusion Festival Edinburgh, Borealis Festival Norway, Dias de musica electroacustica Portugal, Istanbul artist residency GALATA of the Kunststiftung NRW) document Gerhard Stäbler’s influence and significance in the contemporary music scene. To mark the composer’s 70th birthday, major portrait concerts were held in Seoul, Busan, Stuttgart, Cologne and Duisburg. For this occasion, the ensemble work GAME – Ausschweifendes ... was commissioned by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and the string quartet - - ] erzählen ... by the Kunststiftung NRW. In 2020/21, Stäbler wrote orchestral/ensemble works for the anniversary year BTHVN2020 and the vocal work all is to be dared for the project #HighTech = HighHumanism at the Dresden University of Music with AuditivVokal. In 2022, the ensemble work TAUBES SCHWARZ  was premiered as a commissioned work by the Kunststiftung NRW as part of the Muziek Biennale Niederrhein. There were also broadcasts on RBB, Radio Belgrade, NDR, DLF, SWR and projects in Dresden, Korea and at the Contraste Festival (Lviv, Ukraine). In 2023, the five CELAN-GESÄNGE and the concert-length composition MAGISCHE SPIELE for four pianos premiered in Trier. In 2024, Stäbler received the German Music Authors’ Prize in the category „Composition Percussion“.

The string quartet SICH·VERSCHREIBEN with typewriter and audience, a commission by the Kunststiftung NRW, was premiered in June 2025 by the Minguet Quartet at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Following the successful premiere of PROLOG for ensemble (from: SALZ) in Hallstatt as part of the 2024 Capital of Culture/Salzkammergut, the full-length opera SALZ (based on Peter Handke's story Kali) will premiere in autumn 2026 at the Landestheater Linz (Austria) and will be presented in subsequent performances in Bolzano and Trento (Italy).

EarPort Duisburg and international activities

From 2000 to 2010, Gerhard Stäbler and his partner Kunsu Shim established the centre for contemporary music EarPort at the invitation of the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, where the two composers further developed their original concept of performance music and performance concerts. In this context, Stäbler also appears regularly as a performer and reciter. In 2015, EarPort was reopened as a venue for experimental encounters between the arts. Since then, Shim and Stäbler have realised numerous concepts in cooperation with partners from the region, such as Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, K20 Düsseldorf (Kunstsammlung NRW), NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Schloss Benrath, DIE GROSSE Kunstausstellung NRW (Kunstpalast Düsseldorf), Muziek Biennale Niederrhein, Schlosstheater Moers, Essener Forum für Kunst und Architektur, Philharmonie Essen and Musikbibliothek Essen, but also throughout Germany, for example at the Diocese of Würzburg and the OPENING Festival Trier.

Portrait concerts, performances, guest lectures and workshops take Stäbler and Shim to many countries in Europe, Australia, North and South America, Israel, Japan and Korea. Their international partners include the Bergen Festival, Borealis Festival, LONDON EAR Festival, MusikTheaterLabor at the Bruckner Private University Linz, University of North Texas (Denton), Ragdale Foundation, Chicago University, DePaul and Northwestern University, University of the Arts (EUM) in Montevideo/Uruguay, Conservatorium van Amsterdam and many more. During the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, they digitally implemented numerous large-scale projects such as TIEFEN·SCHÄRFE as part of the Muziek Biennale Niederrhein and the concert series Quadrophonien in collaboration with composers from Ukraine, Great Britain, the Netherlands and South Korea. Their residency as Artists-in-Residence at the GALATA artist residence of the Kunststiftung NRW in Istanbul in 2022/23 has led to close artistic relationships with the ARTER Museum, several Istanbul universities and the renowned HEZARFEN Ensemble. Shim and Stäbler also have an ongoing working relationship with the Grupo de Música Contemporânea de Lisboa ensemble.

Highlights in 2025 include workshops and performance concerts in Istanbul (ARTER Museum, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and Austrian Cultural Forum), participation in the exhibition project IM KINOSAAL at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, and a guest performance tour in November with concerts and workshops as a continuation of TRIALOG in Seoul, South Korea.