BIOGRAPHY
Stefan Prins
The tension between his activities as a composer and a performer/improviser (live-electronics) is an important factor in Stefan Prins’s music (Belgium, 1979). But perhaps even more important is his interest in contemporary technology and the way it influences the “conditio humana” in today’s society.
After graduating as an engineer at the age of 23, he started to study fulltime piano and composition at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium, where he obtained his Masters degree in Composition with Luc Van Hove magna cum laude. Concurrently, he studied Technology in Music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Peter Swinnen and Sonology at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (2004-2005; The Netherlands). Additionally he studied “Philosophy of Culture” and “Philosophy of Technology” at the University of Antwerp, attended masterclasses with a.o. Chaya Czernowin, Steven Tagasuki, Richard Barrett, Enno Poppe, Georges Aperghis, Beat Furrer, Vladimir Tarnopolski, Karlheinz Essl and participated in live-electronics workshops with Gerhard Eckel at the IEM in Graz and with Orm Finnendahl at the Musikhochschule Freiburg. Since September 2011 Stefan divides his time between Europe and the USA (Cambridge, Massachusetts), where he started a PhD in composition at Harvard University under the guidance of Chaya Czernowin and additionally receives private guidance from Steven Takasugi.
As a composer he received several important awards in Belgium and abroad, such as the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis 2010 for composition (Darmstadt), a Staubach Honorarium (2009, Darmstadt), the International Impuls Composition Award (Graz, 2009), “Week of the Contemporary Music” (Gent, 2006, 2nd Prize) and “KBC Aquarius Composition Award for Young Composers” (Brussels, 2001), while several of his compositions have been selected by ISCM-Flanders for the ISCM World Music Days. His compositions have been played in Europe, the USA, South-America and the Middle-East by a.o. Klangforum Wien, Champ d’Action, Nadar Ensemble, Ictus Ensemble, Nikel Ensemble, Ensemble Mosaik, Wet Ink Ensemble, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Zwerm Electric Guitar Quartet, Agartha, the Ensor String Quartet, collectief reFLEXible, the Belgian Chamber Orchestra, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Frederik Croene, Matthias Koole, Tom Pauwels, Mark Knoop a.o. on festivals such as Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Festival Musica Strasbourg, Ars Musica, Novembermusic, Transit Festival, Time Canvas & Musica Electronica Nova, Luzerne Festival, Tzlil Meudcan Festival (Tel Aviv), Impuls Festival (Graz), Festival Musica Viva (München).
Besides his regular collaborations with the Flemish ensemble for contemporary music Champ d'Action Stefan Prins is also closely involved with the new Belgian ensemble for contemporary music, Nadar Ensemble, both as a composer, live-electronics-specialist and member of the artistic board.
Together with Thomas Olbrechts & Joachim Devillé he was one of the founders of the long-standing collectief reFLEXible ‚ an ensemble that focuses exclusively on free improvised or instant composed music, often including dance, performance, video, film, installation. With this ensemble and/or musicians such as Matthias Koole, Richard Barrett, Karlheinz Essl, Peter Jacquemyn, Horacio Curti, Ferran Fages, Ruth Barberan, Alfredo Costa-Monteiro, Zwerm he regularly performs instant composed music in Belgium and abroad.
Regularly updated recordings of compositions and improvisations on myspace
Regularly updated recordings of compositions and improvisations on Soundcloud
Regularly updated video's of performances of improvised and composed music on Youtube
Regularly updated video's of performances of improvised and composed music on Vimeo
collectief reFLEXible on myspace.com
Stefan Prins page on the Champ d'action site
"Profile and composition analysis by "Matrix", documentation centre of contemporary music" (dutch)
