music composition

Matthias Krüger

Born 1987 in Ulm, in Germany, Matthias Krüger grew up in Brussels and Trier, working now as a freelance composer in Cologne.
 
He studied composition and Romance studies in Cologne, Paris and New York and was awarded numerous prizes and scholarships, including a 2nd prize at Berlin’s Mendelssohn Competition (2013), Cologne’s Bernd Alois Zimmermann award (2015) and the Prix de composition Chevillion-Bonnaud of Orléans (2016).
 
He has also been nominated for the Gaudeamus Award 2018 (Utrecht) and several times for the promotion award for young artists of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany).
 
 
 
In 2015 he did a residency in Istanbul and in 2018 he became a research fellow of the Kunststiftung NRW in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
 
 
 
His music has been performed in Europe, Israel, North America as well as China and Japan, among others at festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, ECLAT Festival Neue Musik Stuttgart, Festival de Royaumont or the Shanghai New Music Week, including venues such as Konzerthaus Berlin, WDR Funkhaus Cologne, Palau de la Música Catalana Barcelona, and Carnegie Hall New York, as well as commissioned and performed by ensembles such as the WDR Symphony Orchestra, ascolta, ensemble recherche, Slagwerk Den Haag and Meitar Ensemble Tel Aviv.
 
In the 2020/2021 season the CD label WERGO will release a portrait CD of his music as part of the series Edition Zeitgenössische Musik.
 
 
 
His musical interests revolve primarily around the field of tension between the abstract magic of sonic structures and the concrete confrontation with one’s own body, yearnings and obsessions; it focuses on the musician as a human being who is confronted with their personal limits and uncertainties, working their way through them in constant, not least physical agitation in an ever-lasting quest for identity and redemption.