Der Thomas-Seelig-Musikpreis 2022 geht an Jonty Harrison. Die Jury, bestehend aus Folkmar Hein, Hans Tutschku und Savannah Agger schreibt zur Begründung:
„The Thomas Seelig Music Prize 2022 goes to the composer and Professor Emeritus Jonty Harrison. With this nomination, the jury honors an important electroacoustic music composer and performer of electroacoustic music and the creator of the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST), which is turning 40 years in 2022.
From Klang to BEASTiary, he spans a large arc of creative works. Interpretation and spatialization are two linking forces, where his experience in performance and composition constantly inform each other. While the stereo format was the sole available at the time of Klang (1982), Jonty has used multichannel formats up to 72 channels in recent works. The immediacy of his compositions catches the listeners‘ attention and holds it throughout energetic and poetic sound journeys.
Besides teaching, composing, and performing acousmatic music, further musical activity is conducting. For example, he led staged productions of Berio’s Laborintus II and Passaggio, Sinfonia and Folk Songs, one of the four groups in Stockhausen’s Carré, six performances of Stockhausen’s Momente in two different productions, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and many more.
He taught acousmatic, electroacoustic composition and associated topics – performance practice, history, and analysis at the University of Birmingham. He also guided countless Ph.D. candidates and shaped new generations of creative minds.
Folkmar Hein, Hans Tutschku and Savannah Agger“
Jonty Harrison, Bio: