The Austrian composer Thomas Larcher, born in 1963, who taught in Basel and has also been commissioned by the Lucerne Festival, has received a British Composer Award for a concerto for violin, cello and orchestra.
Larcher, who has also worked with composers such as Heinz Holliger, Isabel Mundry, Olga Neuwirth and Johannes Maria Staud, founded the Tyrolean festival Klangspuren in 1994, a platform for performances of contemporary music works in Austria. From 2001 to 2004, he taught a piano class at the Basel University of Music.
Composition commissions from Till Fellner, the Mozartwoche Salzburg and the Lucerne Festival have increasingly focused his interest on composing. Today, Larcher is one of the internationally most important composers of contemporary music.
Overall, the British Composer Awards was awarded in thirteen categories this year. The other winners include Thomas Adès (chamber music), Colin Matthews (vocal composition) and Sir Harrison Birtwistle (orchestral music).
