HANNES DUFEK
COMPOSER // IMPROVISER / MUSICIAN
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 relationships between freedom and choice, variability and deliberation, material and semantic implication.
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 also attended masterclasses with Gerd Kühr, Steven Kazuo Takasugi and Georg Friedrich Haas and received additional tutoring from Clemens Gadenstätter who also is his primary artistic supervisor for his doctoral degree at the KUG in Graz (further supervisors including Manos Tsangaris, Christa Brüstle and Annegret Huber).
He has received commissions for new works for UMS'n'JIP (CH), Ensemble Platypus (AT), NOISE-BRIDGE (DT), ExVoCo (DT), Ensemble PLENUM (AT), reconsil (AT), Ensemble mise-en (US), JVLMA (LV), Jeunesse Musicale Autrichienne (AT), Carinthischer Sommer (AT), Festival Wien modern (AT), Staatstheater Oldenburg (DE), Münchner Volkstheater (DT) and makemake produktionen (AT) as well as various performers such as Franziska Fleischanderl, Kaoko Amano, Maja Mijatovic and Tomasz Skweres, among others. Most recent commissions include new works for singer Helena Sorokina and the renowned vocal ensemble Cantando Admont.
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 and concert settings and its reputation as one of the most relevant musical bodies in the Austrian New Music scene is continuing to grow. 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.
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). 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.
Current projects the upcoming world premiere of the large-scale ensemble work die dinge ohne uns (...), a new piece for two harpsichords and objects as well as the continuation of the AUSSEN (OUTSIDE) series with a piece for cello and performer. In 2019 he completed his doctoral research at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Dr. artium).
He lives in Vienna, Austria. Some of his work is published by Verlag Neue Musik as well as Babelscores.