Peter Michael von der Nahmer

Peter Michael von der Nahmer (born April 7, 1977 in Munich ) is a German composer, sound researcher and music therapist with German-American-Cuban roots. In his work he is concerned with the search for identity, complexity and transcendence, both in his music itself and in further questions about the human psyche and the human condition in general.

Music theater is at the center of his artistic, educational and therapeutic work.

He has written more than 27 works for musical theater and dance and over 100 works for concert and film. Many have been awarded numerous national and international prizes and performed worldwide.

Life

Von der Nahmer was born into a family of scientists and artists. His mother Elenita von der Nahmer worked as a sound engineer for BR television .

His father, Wolfgang Wacker von der Nahmer - a grandson of the founding father Alexander Wacker of Wacker Chemie - was more interested in art painting, precious stones and other cultures, especially Judaism and Hinduism, but also in his healing arts different shapes. From his earliest childhood, von der Nahmer was influenced by traditional Jewish and Indian music and culture through his father.

schooldays

Von der Nahmer began playing the piano at the age of four and began composing his first pieces from the age of 12. Right from the start he was interested in popular music, which was evident from his early successes with his band Authentic Dreams in 1994 (including with the author Michael Eichhammer ), as well as with his first opera “Between Wahns and Reality”, which he did Wrote and performed a year later.

As early as 1991, von der Nahmer began to take an intense interest in medicine. He completed training as a youth helper, did internships in hospitals and attended medical lectures at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (LMU), convinced that he would later become a doctor. In 1993 he came into contact with music therapy as an interface between music and medicine.

After many detours at school, he came to the Camerloher-Gymnasium Freising in 1996 , which became his second “musical” home, especially thanks to the music teacher Sebastian Brand. During this time, invitations to workshops for young composers followed, including the orchestral workshop for young composers, where the orchestral works “Natura et Homo” (1997) and an orchestral version of “Zwischen Wahn und Reality” (1996) were premiered.

Academic years

After a short stay and studies in musicology at the LMU, he began studying film music at the Munich University of Music and Theater in 2000 . A short time later he studied traditional Chinese music with the Chinese composer and music ethnologist Wang Aiqun. In 2003 he made his way to Los Angeles, where he completed a further degree in film music at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) until 2004 and worked as a composer for numerous chamber music and musicals until 2008. When he returned to Germany in 2009, he began a master's degree in music therapy at the University of Augsburg with Tonius Timmerman in order to take his search for an understanding of psychological processes one step further. He also studied "Music-Imaginative Pain Treatment" with Susanne Metzner at the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences . Between 2013 and 2015 he studied on a scholarship at New York University in the master's program "Musical Theater Writing".

Los Angeles (2003-2008)

In 2003, at the invitation of several New York Broadway producers, von der Nahmer took part in an international tender for a new Broadway musical while he was still completing his composition studies in Munich. He made it into the top three finalists.

This experience formed the background for his move to Los Angeles and further studies at UCLA. In 2004 he received the Dr. J. Howland Auchinloss Prize for the piano quartet “The Monk and the Fish”. Many other commissioned works and prizes for new music in America followed.

In the same year he received a scholarship for the "14th Annual O'Neill Puppetry Conference", within which he wrote music for over 14 puppet theater pieces. Two scholarships followed in 2005 for participation in the Aspen Music Festival and School , where he found a mentor in the film composer Thomas Newman . Also in 2005 he was invited to the 1st Grammy Camp in Los Angeles as counselor in the field of film music and supervised young film composers in preparing their orchestrations for a recording on the Newman Stage at 20th Century Fox . Furthermore, the commissioned work “Von Zeyt Zu Zeit” was premiered in the city theater in Neuburg.

In 2007 I was invited to the ASCAP film scoring workshop in Los Angeles. The commissioned works “Hip Hop for Piano”, “Powerwalk”, and “Anatomy of Rhythm”, which deal with the musicalization of psychological processes, were created. During this time he also met the librettist Cynthia Ferrell at the Academy for New Musical Theater in Los Angeles, with whom he began work on his first opera "El Canguro - A Rainforest Opera", which premiered in 2011 at the At & T Center Theater has been. After receiving a 5-month work grant at the Herrenhaus Edenkoben, he decided at the end of 2008 to go back to Germany with his family and continue to work on the El Canguro opera.

Germany (2009-2013)

Von der Nahmer dealt with the dark side of life in Los Angeles and the feeling of powerlessness when getting used to it in Germany in the opera “20 Minuten”, which was awarded the Berlin Opera Prize in 2010. He worked with the Neukölln Opera . This was followed in 2010 by the commissioned work “Klangwandler” with the librettist Kai Ivo Baulitz . In addition to his work as a composer, he began working as a sound researcher and music therapist in 2010. He was a sound designer and sound researcher at the BMW Research and Innovation Center and worked in the Harlaching Clinic in neurological early rehabilitation, where he worked closely with neuropsychologist Stefanie Böttger on new music therapeutic methods. As part of his master's thesis with Jos De Backer, he combined the fields of art, medicine / psychology and composition by developing a method for the therapeutic use of composition processes within music therapy ("Inner processes and their musical precipitate. Development of a method for composing in the Music therapy. ").

New York, USA (2013–)

In 2013 von der Nahmer received an extensive scholarship from New York University to study Musical Theater Writing there, following on from his first experience on Broadway in 2003. Since then he has mainly worked in the field of music and dance theater. This included numerous works for contemporary dance with the choreographer Hala Shah as well as numerous musical theater works. In 2015 he received the “Charles and Joan Gross Family Grant” for the commissioned work “Reflections” for the New York dance company FKJ DANCE, where he has been composer in residence since 2016. In 2016 he received the McKnight Visiting Composer Residency for a two-month stay in New Ulm, Minnesota. There he worked on new musical theater works with and about the people of New Ulm, Minnesota in 2017.

Musical work

Von der Nahmer's musical works encompass a multitude of styles and musical genres that go beyond classical genre boundaries. From stage works for ballet, musicals and classical opera to film music and modern sound experiments, von der Nahmer uses different composition techniques. His aim is to create a work beyond the usual genre and genre boundaries, in which both the process of composing and the result form new points of contact for further works and works. The collaboration between different expertise and artistic activities is central. Especially in the field of musicals, von der Nahmers pieces guarantee interfaces already in the composition process, in which a fruitful exchange between areas such as writing, dance, visual arts and academic reflection is made possible in the early phases of piece development. The emphasis on interdisciplinarity is expressed both in the variety of styles and in the thematic elements of his work. Von der Nahmer's musical style was strongly influenced by traditional Jewish and Indian music, which he got to know from his family environment. Due to his extensive teaching activities, in which his students accompanied more than 25 musicals between 2010 and 2013, he finally also developed "MuTaDra" ( Music - Theater - Drama ), in which the writing of musical theater pieces is used both as an artistic means of expression and as a therapeutic intervention becomes.

Awards (selection)

• 2003: Finalist in the tender for a new Broadway musical / New York, USA
• 2004: Dr. J. Howland Auchinloss Prize for “The Monk and the Fish”, Society for New Music / USA
• 2004: Scholarship from the 14th Annual O'Neill Puppetry Conference, Connecticut, USA
• 2005: Scholarship from Maestro's Circle, Aspen Music Festival and School / USA
• 2005: Susan and Ford Schuman Award, Aspen Music Festival and School / USA
• 2006: Winner of the Masterworks Prize with "The Monk and the Fish" / USA
• 2007: Jerome Foundation Grant from the American Composers Forum / USA
• 2007: Winner of the “Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra composition contest” with “Powerwalk” / USA
• 2007: Encore Grant from the American Composers Forum for "Rhythm some Blues" / USA
• 2007: ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, Los Angeles, California, USA
• 2007: Winner of the "Renée B. Fisher Composer Award" with "Hip Hop for piano" / USA
• 2008: 2nd prize at the 20th Siegburg composition competition with "fairy tale journey for children"
• 2008: Guest composer at the Bar Harbor Music Festival in Maine, USA
• 2008: 1st prize and special prize at the ISME-IVME international composition competition. with “No Attetude!” / Belgium
• 2009: ASCAPlus Award
• 2009: 5-month work grant in the manor house Edenkoben
• 2010: 3rd prize at the Berlin Opera Prize of the Neuköllner Oper for "20 minutes" (Libretto: Andreas Bisowski )
• 2010: ASCAPlus Award
• 2010: 2nd prize in the composition competition of the Upper Swabian Choir Association with "Missa Brevis"
• 2011: ASCAPlus Award
• 2011: California International Theater Selection 2011 with the opera "El Canguro" (Libretto: Cynthia Lewis Ferrell) / USA
• 2013–2015: Tisch School of the Arts Departmental Fellowship, New York University
• 2016: The Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation Grant for the commissioned work Reflections / New York
• 2016: McKnight Visiting Composer Residency / American Composers Forum / USA
• 2017: "Honorable Mention" in the "New World Composition Challenge", the New York Philharmonic with the piano piece "From Here to There"

Works (selection)

Music theater / theater

• 1995: Chamber opera "Between Madness and Reality" (Libretto: Peter Michael von der Nahmer)
• 1999: Musical "Lupus Albus" (Libretto: Martin Decker)
• 2000: Play " Jedermann " (Text: Hugo von Hofmannsthal )
• 2001: Musical drama "Umbra Lux" (text: Sanskrit)
• 2001: Play "Das Karusell" (Text: Andreas Vecchioni)
• 2004: Musical "The Ultimate Musical" (Libretto: Virginia Emrick & Peter Michael von der Nahmer)
• 2005: Musical "Von Zeyt zu Zeit" (Libretto: Johannes Ponader )
• 2000: Play " Pericles, Prince of Tire " (Text: William Shakespeare )
• 2010: Chamber opera "20 minutes" (Libretto: Andreas Bisowski )
• 2010: Youth opera "Klangwandler" (Libretto: Kai Ivo Baulitz )
• 2011: Opera "El Canguro" (Libretto: Cynthia Lewis Ferrell)
• 2014: Chamber opera "The Cookies Call - A Tragic Tragedy" (Libretto: Emily J. Roller)
• 2014: 20-minute musical "A Bump in the Road" (Libretto: Emily J. Roller)
• 2014: Short opera “Ho! Ho! Ho! "(Libretto: Kate Chadwick)
• 2015: Musical drama "Esther" (Libretto: Emily J. Roller)
• 2015: Sung ballet "Talking City" (Libretto: John Dietrich)
• 2016: Electropera "Tightrope" (Libretto: Tatiana Wechsler)
• 2018: Musical " Welcome to Hell " (Libretto: Peter Lund )

Song cycles

• 2008: SPAM: A Song Cycle (Libretto: Scott Guy)

Performance / dance

• 2001: Darkness of Water (for string quartet, piano and tape)
• 2002: Abayfor - future in focus
• 2002: Circuit
• 2003: KeimFarben
• 2014: Passing-Over (choreography with Hala Shah, New York)
• 2015: Mashrabiya (choreography with Hala Shah, New York)
• 2015: Psychogram (choreography with Hala Shah, New York)
• 2016: Red Tide (choreography with Hala Shah, New York)
• 2016: Reflections (choreography with Fadi J. Khoury / FJK DANCE, New York)
• 2017: NIA WA JA SHU (choreography with Rajon Miller, New York)

Choral works

• 1994: Ars Amatoria (for choir and organ), (Text: Ovid)
• 2006: And I saw ... (for choir and organ)
• 2006: Beyond Forever (for choir), (Text: Virginia Emrick)
• 2006: Missa Brevis (for choir and organ)
• 2008: Above the Sky (for bells and choir)

Chamber music

• 1997: Sphären (for accordion, alto saxophone, percussion, 2 violins, viola, 2 cellos)
• 2000: Atem (for alto saxophone and accordion)
• 2001: Dvandva (for violin and piano)
• 2002: Sax'eon (for alto saxophone and accordion)
• 2004: The Monk and the Fish (for piano quartet)
• 2004: Intome (for flute and accordion)
• 2006: Trial ADN Error (piano quartet)
• 2007: Hip Hop for piano
• 2007: Dance of the Fairies (for flute, harp, cello)
• 2007: African Dream (for flute, harp, cello)
• 2007: Rhythm Some Blues (solo percussion)
• 2008: Witzelsucht (piano for 4 hands)
• 2008: No Attetude! (2008) (for solo harp)
• 2008: Anatomy of Rhythm (for percussion duo)
• 2010: Moving on ...
• 2017: From Here to There (piano solo, based on themes from the 9th Symphony (Dvořák) )

Orchestral works

• 1997: Natura et Homo (for orchestra and speaker)
• 2003: Mikrokosmos (for orchestra and soprano)
• 2003: Persiflamia (for orchestra)
• 2005: Angels (for orchestra, choir and piano)
• 2007: Fanfare (for 6 trumpets, 5 horns, 3 trombones, 2 euphoniums, 2 tubas, 4 percussion players)
• 2003/2008: Powerwalk (for string orchestra and piano)

electronics

• 2003: Multiphonics

Discography

• 2011: "Celtic Gold", ABC Classics / Australia
• 2011: "From the emerald Island", ABC Classics / Australia
• 2009: "Carisma - Celtic Whispers", ABC Classics / Australia
• 2009: "Masterworks of the New Era, Vol. 13", Erm Media
• 2007: "Carisma - Lily's Eyes", ABC Classics / Australia
• 2004: "Flaccord live"
• 2002: "age of harp - Journey", LC 03120

Publications

• Notes on musical symbolization from the perspective of a composer . In: Symbolizations in Music, Art and Therapy. H. Schmidt, Ulrich & Timmermann, Tonius (eds.), Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012.
• Anatomy of Rhythm - for percussion duo . Musiktherapeutische Umschau 2010 / 31,3, pp. 307–312 Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht .

Web links

• Works by and about Peter Michael von der Nahmer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Official homepage of the artist
• Website of AUGEMUS Musikverlag