HANNES DUFEK
COMPOSER // IMPROVISER / MUSICIAN
Biography
Hannes Dufek (*1984) is a composer, improviser and
organiser from Vienna, Austria. His work ranges from
orchestral, chamber and solo works to music theatre in
various forms and encompasses free improvisation as
well as different visual representations of music. Interested
mainly in the semantic functionality and mediality of
music and its potential to yield communality and unknown social spaces, his focus lies on the many intricacies of the possible relationships between freedom and choice, variability and deliberation, material and semantic implication.
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Since his degree in 2012 at the university of music and
performing arts Vienna (MDW) under the tutelage of
Chaya Czernowin and Michael Obst, he works as a
freelancer in various fields and develops his musical
perspective. He attended masterclasses with Gerd Kühr,
Steven Kazuo Takasugi and Georg Friedrich Haas and
received additional tutoring from Clemens Gadenstätter.
In 2019 he completed his doctoral research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Dr. artium).
He has received commissions from international ensembles
and groups such as UMS'n'JIP (CH), ExVoCo (DT),
Platypus (AT), NOISE-BRIDGE (DT), mise-en (US),
Empyrean (US), ÖENM (AT), Wien modern (AT)
Jeunesse Musicale (AT), Carinthischer Sommer (AT),
Vierhalbiert (AT), JVLMA (LV), reconsil (AT), hedda (AT), makemake produktionen (AT), Oxymoron Duo (IT/AT) as well as various performers such as Kaoko Amano, Franziska Fleischanderl, Maja Mijatovic and Tomasz Skweres, among others. Recent commissions include new works for singer Helena Sorokina and the renowned vocal ensemble Cantando Admont (AT) as well as a new piece for the ÖENM.
Hannes Dufek is co-founder of Ensemble Platypus, and has been its long-time chairman and main organiser (2006-2019). The ensemble has since its beginning laid emphasis on working with young and emerging composers, presenting new and challenging works in various contexts. Among other important collaborations, certainly Hannes Dufek's engagement with the theatre group makemake produktionen (2011-2017) stands out, a period of very fruitful and challenging encounters between New Music and theatre.
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Hannes Dufek's work has received various recognitions. Most notable among them are probably the START and state grants by the Austrian ministry of education and culture (BMUKK) and the federal chancellery of Austria (BKA), STELLA prizes for outstanding music in theatre and overall outstanding production in 2012 and 2017, a honorary mention at the ISCM World Music Days 2014 and a first prize at the RuhrTriennale composition competition. He has been selected as composer in residence at the Shanghai Music Week 2013 and was selected for the compilation „Young Austrian Composers“ by the MICA (Music Information Centre Austria). More recently, he received one of the first 12 annual grants by the arts department of the city of Vienna (MA7) for 2022, and the Minnesota-based composer-performer collective 113 selected his piece head chorale for their 2022-2023 season. In 2024, the national jury of ISCM / IGNM selected head chorale as one of the pieces to be sent to the 2025 ISCM World New Music Days in Porto, Portugal.
Current projects include a new ensemble piece for the renowned Austrian ensemble ÖENM, a piece for Cantando Admont and a continuation of the AUSSEN series. Hannes Dufek lives in Vienna, Austria. Some of his work is available via Verlag Neue Musik as well as Babelscores.