Heinz Robert Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss composer, virtuoso oboist, and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Classical pieces, but he has regularly engaged in lesser known pieces of Romantic music, as well as his own compositions. He often performed contemporary works with his wife, the harpist Ursula Holliger. Many composers have written works for him, including Messiaen, Berio, Carter, Henze, Krenek, Lutosławski, Martin, Penderecki, Stockhausen and Yun. A noted composer himself, Hollinger has written works such as the opera Schneewittchen (1998).

Biography

Holliger was born in Langenthal, Switzerland. An oboist since age eleven, he studied at the conservatory of Bern before taking first prize in oboe at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1959. In 1966, he began teaching at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. He has become one of the world's most celebrated oboists. Many composers have written works for him, including Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutosławski, Frank Martin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henri Pousseur, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sándor Veress and Isang Yun. In 1972, Maurice Bourgue (oboe), Klaus Thunemann (bassoon), Christiane Jaccottet (continuo), Holliger, and others recorded Jan Dismas Zelenka's Six Trio Sonatas for oboe and bassoon. This recording is credited for the "Zelenka Renaissance". He was married to the harpist Ursula Holliger, née Hänggi (1937–2014).

Music

Having studied composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez, he has composed many works in a variety of genres, and many of his works have been recorded for the ECM label. Holliger was invited by Walter Fink to be the 17th composer featured in the 2007 Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival, where he conducted Claude Debussy's and Robert Schumann's music as well as his own Lieder (which set Georg Trakl poems) and Gesänge der Frühe (which set Friedrich Hölderlin and Schumann texts). For New Music patron Paul Sacher's 70th birthday, Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich asked twelve composers, Sacher's friends, to write music for solo cello using the Sacher hexachord. (This musical cryptogram is eS, A, C, H, E, and Re, or "Sacher" spelled with German words for the pitch classes.) Holliger contributed a chaconne. Some of the compositions were premiered in Zurich on 2 May 1976. Czech cellist František Brikcius gave the entire "eSACHERe" project its premiere in Prague during May 2011.

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Selected works

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Discography

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