EUGENE BIRMAN (USA)
4 April @16.15-17.45 laboratory of composition in A-402
5 April @10.00-14.00 ja 15.00-17.00 masterclass in B-201

Eugene Birman (b. 1987) is the composer and creator of numerous highly awarded international multidisciplinary productions, with commissioners and partners extending far beyond the concert hall to major international bodies such as the European Union, Hong Kong SAR, the United States Department of State, and others. His creative output, encompassing ambitious, socially relevant works for the stage, synthesizes virtuosic musical content with cutting-edge technology; he has pioneered the use of large-scale holography, immersive opera environments, and interactive digital media in classical music. “High drama” and “intense emotion” (BBC), “the most stunning and divisive” (Business Times), “the most radical and ambitious” (5:4), “animalistic” (Eesti Kultuurileht “SIRP”), “from haunting and atmospheric to plain brutal” (BBC Music Magazine), “a breakthrough in public art” (ReNew Vision), “at once, ingenious, hypnotic, brave, and beautiful” (Festival Internazionale A.F. Lavagnino)- his work exists at “the convergence of major current issues and supreme beauty” (Gulbenkian). He has been recognized with prominent fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (2018) and the US Department of State’s Fulbright Program (2010-11), awarded the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, leading to a season-long residency at the Southbank Centre and world premiere with the Philharmonia Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall, and appointed the sole Artist-in-Residence of the 2018 Helsinki Festival, Finland’s biggest yearly cultural event. In 2021, he took up the position of Artist-in-Residence at the Manchester International Festival. His work has been prominently featured on major news and media outlets worldwide: CNN, BBC World TV, Bloomberg, National Geographic, Radio France, Deutsche Welle, and the South China Morning Post are among countless others that have broadcast and reported on his projects.

Now based primarily in Hong Kong, Birman began composing at the age of three in Moscow at the Gnessin School, and continued his studies privately in the United States with John Adams; he has since worked closely under Samuel Adler, Luis Bacalov, David Conte, Azio Corghi, Christopher Rouse, Toivo Tulev, and, most recently, Salvatore Sciarrino. He was awarded a D.Phil from the University of Oxford, Christ Church, under the generous support of the Stone-Mallabar Foundation and the American Friends of Christ Church and graduated with an M.M. degree from the Juilliard School, where he was awarded the A. Ellstein Memorial Scholarship, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Scholarship, and the Gretchaninoff Prize. He received a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University, as well as a Diploma di Merito from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Eugene Birman currently holds the position of Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.