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The outstanding Swiss oboist, pedagogue, composer and conductor, Heinz Robert Holliger, commenced playing the recorder at 4 and the piano at 6. He studied the oboe with Cassagnaud and composition with Sándor Veress at the Bern Conservatory; then oboe with Pierre Pierlot and piano with Yvonne Lefébure at the Paris Conservatory. In 1959, he won 1st Prize for oboe in the Geneva International Music Competition, and then played in the Sinfonieorchester Basel. He also attened Pierre Boulez's master-classes in composition in Basel (1961-1963).
After winning 1st Prize in Munich Competition in 1961, Heinz Holliger embarked upon a brilliant intetnational career; toured in Europe and the USA as soloist with the Lucerne Festival Strings in 1962. he also gave concerts with his wife, the harpist Ursula Hänggi, and his own Holliger Ensemble. In addition to giving master-classes, he began teaching as Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, Germany in 1965
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. Many composers have written works for him: Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, André Jolivet, Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutosławski, Frank Martin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henri Pousseur, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Sándor Veress and Isang Yun. He often performed contemporary works with his wife.
In 1972 Holliger, Maurice Bourgue (oboe), Klaus Thunemann (bassoon), and Christiane Jaccottet (continuo) et al. recorded the Six Trio Sonatas for Oboe and Bassoon by Jan Dismas Zelenka. This recording is credited for the "Zelenka Renaissance".
Heinz Holliger is a noted composer himself, writing works such as the opera Schneewittchen (1998). He has also composed many works in a variety of media. In his own works, he is an uncompromising avant-garde. Many of his works have been recorded for the ECM label. Invited by Walter Fink, he was the 17th composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2007 in chamber music and a symphonic concert that he conducted himself, including works of Claude Debussy and Robert Schumann along with his Lieder after Georg Trakl and Gesänge der Frühe on words of R. Schumann and Friedrich Hölderlin. On the occasion of Paul Sacher's 70th birthday, Holliger was one of twelve composer-friends of his who were asked by Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich to write compositions for cello solo using his name spelt out in German names for musical notes on the theme (eS, A, C, H, E, Re); Holliger contributed a Chaconne for Violoncello Solo. The compositions were partially presented in Zürich on May 2, 1976. The whole "eSACHERe" project was (for the first time in complete performance) performed by Czech cellist František Brikcius in May 2011 in Prague.
His Awardsi include: 1987: Léonie Sonning Music Prize (Denmark, 1987); Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (1991); Zürich Festival Prize (2007); Rheingau Musikpreis (2008); Honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016); Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau (2017); Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts (2018).
Heinz Holliger was married to the harpist Ursula Holliger née Hänggi (1937-2014) until her death on January 21, 2014. |
