Composer Ansgar Beste, born 1981 in Malmö / Sweden, studied composition at 7 music academies in 4 countries, with Michael Obst, Luca Francesconi, Adriana Hölszky, Wolfgang Rihm, Hanspeter Kyburz and Beat Furrer.
His music has been programmed/played in 21 countries, by 20 radio stations and at 51 festivals like Venice Biennale (Ita) 2009, ECLAT Stuttgart (Ger) 2011 / 2016, Darmstadt Summer Course (Ger) 2012 / 2016, Donaueschingen Festival (Ger) 2012, Nordic Music Days (Fin/Isl/Gbr/Nor) 2013 / 2016 / 2017 / 2019, Wien Modern (Aut) 2013, ISCM World (New) Music Days (Aut/Slo/Est/Nzl) 2013 / 2015 / 2019 / 2020, MATA New York (USA) 2014, Lucerne Festival (Sui) 2015, Ultima Oslo (Nor) 2015, Borealis Bergen (Nor) 2016, Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Ned) 2016, Klang Copenhagen (Den) 2018, Ars Musica Brussels (Bel) 2018, Klang Helsinki (Fin) 2019, Swedish Music Spring Stockholm (Swe) 2020.
His commissioners include prominent ensembles, both at home and abroad.
He has been awarded several major international prizes, such as the Stuttgart Composition Prize 2010 and the Delz Prize 2015, in addition to scholarships/grants from Villa Concordia Bamberg 2011 (Ger), Darmstadt Summer Course 2012 (Ger), Künstlerhaus Lukas Ahrenshoop 2012 / 2019 (Ger), Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation (Ger) 2013 / 2015 / 2016, Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart 2015 (Ger) and Künstlerdorf Schöppingen 2015 (Ger).
Ansgar Beste’s three main concerns in composing are: innovative sounds, structure and theatricality. He is focusing his musical material on complex sounds and noise elements produced on conventional musical instruments in an unconventional, purely acoustic (non-electronic) way: By de-familiarizing the instruments’ familiar sound world with a wide array of extended playing and vocal techniques and newly discovered preparations, he likes to play with the listeners’ expectation, perception, experience and comprehension.
Ansgar Beste‘s three main concerns in composing are: innovative sounds that bring music history forward, structuring of these sounds to clear processes as well as theatricality that enhances the live experience of music to a more holistic sensory perception.
He is focusing his musical material on complex sounds and noise elements produced on conventional musical instruments in an unconventional, purely acoustic (non-electronic) way: By de-familiarizing the instruments’ familiar sound world with a wide array of extended playing and vocal techniques and newly discovered preparations, he likes to play with the listeners’ expectation, perception, experience and comprehension.
Ansgar Beste was born 1981 in Malmö (Sweden). His education includes an exam in church music 1996-98; exams in “kapellmeister”, composition (Michael Obst), piano, music theory and arts management from the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (Ger) 2002-10; a master and a soloist diploma degree in composition (Luca Francesconi) from the Malmö academy of music (Swe) 2007-12, comprising exchange studies with Adriana Hölszky in Salzburg (Aut) and with Wolfgang Rihm in Karlsruhe (Ger); as well as a soloist diploma degree in composition (Hanspeter Kyburz) from the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin (Ger) 2011-13, comprising exchange studies with Beat Furrer in Graz (Aut).
Besides, he has received masterclass or private lessons from conductors like Jorma Panula, Howard Arman and Sylvain Cambreling as well as composers like Mark Andre, Carola Bauckholt, Pierluigi Billone, Chaya Czernowin, James Dillon, Dror Feiler, Brian Ferneyhough, Francesco Filidei, Helmut Lachenmann, Fabien Lévy, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Roger Reynolds, Lucia Ronchetti, Rebecca Saunders, Johannes Schöllhorn, Martin Schüttler, Simon Steen-Andersen and Ming Tsao.
At competitions, Ansgar Beste won prizes like the 1st prize (probability: 1,21%) at the 55th Composition Prize of the State Capital Stuttgart 2010 (Ger), the 1st prize (1,59%) at the 6th International Composition Competition of the Christoph Delz Foundation in Basel 2015 (Sui), the ZEITklang award 2011 (6,94%) (Aut), the 2nd prize (9,52%) at the Uppsala Composition Competition 2012 (Swe), a honourable mention (13,04%) at the Frederic Mompou International Award 2016 (Esp) and the 3rd prize (23,1%) from the Vokal Nord Chamber Choir 2015 (Nor).
He got competition commissions from the ISCM Austria 2011 (24,24%), from IRCAM and Ensemble intercontemporain / Tremplin (Fra) 2012 (4,79%), from SNIM (Aut) 2014 (12,5%) and for the Acusticum Organ (Swe) 2014 (3,8%).
In addition, he has received scholarships/grants from institutions and foundations like Friedrich Ebert Foundation 2004-2009 (Ger), Royal Swedish Academy of Music 2008-2010/2012 (Swe), STIM 2009/2011/2014 (Swe), Annik & Lars Leander Foundation 2009 (Swe), Anders Sandrews Foundation 2011 (Swe), Alvar Krafts minne 2011/2012/2014 (Swe), Villa Concordia Bamberg 2011 (Ger), 46th International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt 2012 (Ger), Künstlerhaus Lukas Ahrenshoop 2012/2019 (Ger), Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation (Ger) 2013/2015/2016, State of Lower Saxony 2014/2019 (Ger), Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart (Summer Academy) 2015 (Ger), Konrad Adenauer Foundation (EHF 2010) 2015 (Ger), Cultural Foundation Schleswig-Holstein 2015/2017 (Ger), Künstlerdorf Schöppingen 2015 (Ger), State of Styria (St.A.i.R.) 2016 (Aut), Goethe Institute Sweden 2016/2019 (Ger/Swe), State of North Rhine-Westphalia 2017 (Ger) as well as Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia 2019 (Ger).
Since 2005, Ansgar Beste’s music has been played at festivals, concerts and workshops by musicians and (musicians from) ensembles like the Alpaca Ensemble, Arditti String Quartet (workshop), asamisimasa, Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Badische Staatskapelle, Collegium Novum Zürich, Elision Ensemble, El Perro Andaluz, Ensemble Aleph, Ensemble <belcanto>, ensemble:hörsinn, Ensemble intercontemporain (w), Ensemble L’arsenale, Ensemble Platypus, Ensemble Recherche (w), Ensemble Schwerpunkt, Ensemble U, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir (w), Esbjerg Ensemble, Exaudi, Jeunesse Chamber Choir Vienna, Kairos Quartet, Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, Kitchen Orchestra, Garth Knox, Barbara Lüneburg, MAM/Manufaktur für aktuelle Musik, Mivos Quartet, Musica Vitae string orchestra, Nordic Voices, Orchestra J Futura, Oslo Sinfonietta, Pinquins, Riot Ensemble, Schallfeld Ensemble, Peter Sheppard Skærved, SISU percussion ensemble, Skark Ensemble, Studio Musikfabrik, Dominik Susteck, Swedish Wind Ensemble, SWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, Gary Verkade.
Collaboration with the conductors Viktor Orri Árnason, Michael Bartosch, Stijn Berkouwer, Susanne Blumenthal, Alexander Boiadjiev, Marcus Creed, Ajtony Csaba, Núria Cunillera Salas, Maurizio Dini Ciacci, Lennart Dohms, Eva Fodor, Leonhard Garms, Rolf Gupta, David Philip Hefti, Matthias Hermann, Aaron Holloway-Nahum, Sven Thomas Kiebler, Simon Krečič, Paul Mägi, Susanna Mälkki, Cecilia Martin-Löf, Kai Grinde Myrann, Carl Rosman, Casper Schreiber, Petter Sundkvist, Jani Telaranta, Peter Veale, Erich Wagner, Ulrich Wagner, James Weeks.
Recordings/interviews by radio stations ABC (Aus), ORF (Aut), ERR (Est), YLE (Fin), DLF, DRadio, NDR, SWR and WDR (Ger), RÚV (Isl), RAI (Ita), radio 100,7 (Lux), RTP (Por), RTV (Slo), RTVE (Esp), SRF (Sui), SR and PiteFM (Swe) as well as WQXR (USA).
Video broadcasts by Essl Museum / rehearsal (Aut), Athelas Sinfonietta / interview (Den), nmzMedia for Lucerne Festival / live recording (Ger), Zeta Group for Venice Biennale / live recording (Ita), DLA Play for New Directions Festival / live recording (Swe).
His music has been programmed/performed at festivals and concert halls like Venice Biennale (Ita) 2009, Druskomanija (Ltu) 2010, Young Nordic Music (Fin / Den / Isl) 2010-2012, Music and Art Around Copenhagen / Malmö (Den / Swe) 2010, ZKM Karlsruhe (Ger) 2011, ECLAT / Theaterhaus Stuttgart (Ger) 2011 / 2016, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe (Ger) 2011, Connect Malmö (Swe) 2010 / 2011, Skånes Dansteater Malmö (Swe) 2011, Darmstadt Summer Course (Ger) 2012 / 2016, Donaueschingen Festival / Off-Concert (Ger) 2012, RadioKulturhaus Vienna (Aut) 2013, Young Euro Classic / Konzerthaus Berlin (Ger) 2013, Ars Nova Choele Choel (Arg) 2013, Bienal Música Hoje in Curitiba (Bra) 2013, Nordic Music Days (Fin / Isl / Gbr / Nor) 2013 / 2016 / 2017 / 2019, Helsinki Music Centre (Fin) 2013, Estonia Concert Hall Tallinn (Est) 2013, Radialsystem V Berlin (Ger) 2013, Wien Modern / Wiener Konzerthaus (Aut) 2013, ISCM World (New) Music Days (Aut / Slo / Est / Nzl) 2013 / 2015 / 2019 / 2020, MATA New York (USA) 2014, Aktuelle Musik Nürnberg (Ger) 2014, new talents-biennale cologne (Ger) 2014, Oslo Chamber Music (Nor) 2014, Resonans / New Directions Piteå (Swe) 2015-2020, Lucerne Festival / KKL (Sui) 2015, Ultima Oslo (Nor) 2015, Slovenian Philharmonic Ljubljana (Slo) 2015, KlangZeit / Theater Münster (Ger) 2016, Borealis Bergen (Nor) 2016, NDR Kleiner Sendesaal Hannover (Ger) 2016, Time of Music Viitasaari (Fin) 2016, Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker (Ger) 2016, Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Ned) 2016, Harpa Reykjavík Concert Hall (Isl) 2016, Unerhörte Musik Berlin (Ger) 2017, Ilios Harstad (Nor) 2017, Southbank Centre London (Gbr) 2017, Stavanger Concert Hall (Nor) 2017, Théâtre de l’Aquarium Paris (Fra) 2017, Samtidsfest Trondheim (Nor) 2018, Only Connect Oslo (Nor) 2018, Klang Copenhagen (Den) 2018, Nuova Musica Treviso (I) 2018, OpenDays Aalborg (Den) 2018, Ars Musica Brussels (Bel) 2018, Estonian Music Days (Est) 2019, Klang Helsinki (Fin) 2019, Stormen Concert Hall Bodø (Nor) 2019, Swedish Music Spring Stockholm (Swe) 2020.