Peter Ablinger (15 March 1959 – 17 April 2025) was an Austrian composer and academic teacher who settled in Berlin in 1982. His focus was experimental music such as a set of works called ''White / Whitish'', of various aspects of

white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used with this or similar meanings in many scientific and technical disciplines, i ...

. He founded and directed an ensemble, ran festivals and co-founded a publishing house. He taught internationally, including at the

University of Music and Performing Arts Graz The University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, also known as Kunstuniversität Graz (KUG) is an Austrian university. Its roots can be traced back to the music school of the '' Akademischer Musikverein'' founded in 1816, making it the oldest un ...

and the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

Life and career

Ablinger was born on 15 March 1959 in Schwanenstadt in

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

. He attended the Graphik-HTL school in Linz and studied jazz piano from 1977 to 1982 in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. He also studied composition with

Gösta Neuwirth Gösta Neuwirth (; born 6 January 1937) is an Austrian musicologist, composer and academic teacher. He studied in Vienna and Berlin, where he wrote a dissertation on harmony in Franz Schreker's '' Der ferne Klang''. He has taught at universities ...

in Graz and

Roman Haubenstock-Ramati Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, born Roman Haubenstock (; 27 February 1919 – 3 March 1994) was a composer and music editor who worked in Kraków, Tel Aviv and Vienna. Life Haubenstock-Ramati was born in Tonie (a village near Krakow, to which it was ...

in Vienna. From 1982 onwards, he lived in Berlin where he taught experimental music and improvisation at the Musikschule Kreuzberg. He founded there the ''Zwischentöne'' ensemble in 1988 and directed it until 2007. Ablinger focused on chamber music ensembles until 1994, after which he was also involved in electro-acoustics and sound installation. Beginning in 1980 he began a set of works called "White / Whitish", which deals with various aspects of

. The works consist of 36 parts and uses various media: instruments, installations, objects, electro-acoustic pieces, note plays, prose, plays, music without sound. In 2005 he put on a "unique opera project" in Graz. His works were played at festivals such as

Vienna Festival The Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) is a culture festival that takes place in Vienna for five or six weeks in May and June every year. The Vienna Festival was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the Participants in World W ...

and Neue-Musik-Festival Wien Modern. He was a co-founder of the ''Zeitvertrieb'' publishing house in 1999. Beginning in 1993 Ablinger was a visiting professor at the

and from 2012 to 2017 research professor at the

. He lectured at the Institute for Living Voice, Buenos Aires,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, New York,

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

, New York,

Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (, HfMDK) is a state Hochschule for music, theatre and dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938. At present around 900 studen ...

Zurich University of the Arts Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, ) has approximately 2,500 students, which makes it the largest arts university in Switzerland. The university was established in 2007, following the merger between Zurich's School of Art and Design (HGKZ) and ...

University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university established in 1817 located in Vienna. With a student body of over three thousand, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of t ...

, Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung, Darmstadt,

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

, New York, and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, Connecticut. In May 2012, Ablinger was appointed as a member of the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

. The Academy of Arts holds the archive of his works. Ablinger was awarded the Förderungspreis for music of the

Berliner Kunstpreis The ''Berliner Kunstpreis'' (Berlin Art Prize), officially Großer Berliner Kunstpreis, is a prize for the arts by the City of Berlin. It was first awarded in 1948 in several fields of art. Since 1971, it has been awarded by the Academy of Art ...

in 1998, the Andrzej Dobrowolski composition prize for his life's work in 2008, and the in 2020. Ablinger died in Berlin on 17 April 2025, at the age of 66.

Writings

References

External links

* * *
Peter Ablinger

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of Avant-garde music, avant garde and Electroacoustic ...

CD Weiss/Weisslich Peter Ablinger (archive.org)

Radio pieces Peter Ablinger (archive.org)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ablinger, Peter 1959 births 2025 deaths People from Schwanenstadt Austrian male composers Austrian composers Austrian expatriates in Germany Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin