Leopold Hurt

The composer and zither player Leopold Hurt (born 1979 in Regensburg/Germany) studied music at the "Richard Strauss Conservatory" in Munich. In composition he was teached by Peter Kiesewetter. He has participated in master classes with Dieter Schnebel, Paul-Heinz Dittrich (composition) and Nigel North (Early Music) and attended courses for electronic music at the IRCAM in Paris. Currently, he continues his studies in composition at the "Hochschule für Musik und Theater" in Hamburg (with Manfred Stahnke).
Leopold Hurt recently attracted attention with the music theater "MEDEA" (after Christa Wolf). Some of his works reflect his analytical examination of sound documents of Central European folk music, also with electronics and multimedia.
His extensive concert activity concerns both in the field of contemporary music as well as in historical performance. He received several engagements with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, and as a soloist with the Orchestra di Roma. In addition to that, he also works as a conductor and is constantly looking out for new opportunities for his instrument. Thus, for example, leaded to the intensive cooperation with the DJ duo "GebrüderTeichmann" (Berlin). Concert tours have taken him to China, to Lebanon (Goethe Institut) and to Moscow.
In addition to early prizes and awards Leopold Hurt was a fellow of the State of Bavaria, the Foundation "Podium Junger Musiker" and was a winner in the International Competition for zither "Ernst Volkmann Preis" (2004), in which 2008 he was appointed for the jury. 2003/2004 he received a scholarship for a stay at the "Cité Internationale des Arts" in Paris. 2008 he was awarded the "Annemarie und Hermann Raue Preis" for New Chamber Music, and with the first prize at the Gustav Mahler Composition Competition" (Klagenfurt). He has been selected by the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt for the International Composition Seminar 2008/2009.