Yesterday the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad published an article about Edition·S – music¬sound¬art composer Simon Steen-Andersen in connection to the announcement of him being the recipient of Berliner Künstpreis 2013.
“With his visual sound worlds between composition, performance and installation Simon Steen-Andersen has taken Europe’s scenes for modern classical music the past couple of years.” Writes journalist Mathias Irminger Sonne.
And indeed he has! It is no secret that Simon Steen-Andersen is popular all over the world – and especially in Europe. Ensemble Nadar toured Austria with Study for String Instrument #3 (2011) in January, Aventa Ensemble is right now touring Northern America with the highly acclaimed Black Box Music (2012), and the spring months are full of performances by prestigious ensembles such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, 2e2m and Ensemble Recherche.
Kristeligt Dagblad met Simon in Berlin for a chat about his music and the prominent prize Berliner Künstpreis. The result is a beautiful written portrait of Simon and his music. The article covers everything from his teen-years’ passion for rock music, his studies at the Academy of Music in Aarhus and his need for being there himself for (almost) all of his performances.
“If you listen to Steen-Andersen’s music on CDs such as “Pretty Sound” and “Get String”, you understand the need for being there yourself – now that you know that there is a visual side to the performances. But even on the purely musical side you get the sense of an uncompromising artist.”
You can read the entire article here (digital subscription needed) in Danish.
Next week Ensemble Intercontemporain performs Simon’s work Praesens (2001) during the PULSAR Festival at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen.