HORST EBENHÖH (1930-2022)
Short biography
Born on May 16th, 1930 Horst Ebenhöh began playing piano from a child. After studies of piano and music education at the Academy of music in Vienna and geography at the Viennese University, he started his professional career as a high-school teacher in Lower Austria and returned to Vienna in 1966. Since 1990 he has been living as free-lance composer in Lower Austria.
As a composer, Horst Ebenhöh is an autodidact, so he never was bound to a certain trend in music. He noticed the experiments and their results of the "Aventgarde" in the 1950s and 60s with great interest and sometimes uses their techniques, but never denied tradition absolutely. His sense for timbre and rhythm is remarkable, strongly influenced by several journeys through near-east-countries. Motivic thinking is another aspect of his music, too.
Beyond composing he was on the board of several music associations in Austria and he had a good reputation as a lecturer of Austria's music abroad. Most of his over 300 works are published, estimated and have been performed all over the world. For his œuvre - which practically concerns all kinds of music - from vocals as well as opera, from instrumental solo-pieces as well as chamber music, concertos and symphonic works, Horst Ebenhöh awarded various austrian and international honours and prizes.