Heiner Goebbels

by Jason AnkenyExperimental composer and director Heiner Goebbels was born in Neustadt, Germany, on August 17, 1952, relocating to the Frankfurt area at age 20 to study music and sociology. He first achieved notoriety in 1976 upon premiering a number of works, including "Rote Sonne," "Circa," and "Improvisations on Themes by Hanns Eisler," most performed in conjunction with the Sogenanntes Linksradikales Blasorchester. Concurrently, Goebbels also collaborated with Alfred Harth and beginning in 1982, he served as a member of the longstanding art rock trio Cassiber. He further expanded his growing oeuvre with a series of theatrical, film, and ballet scores and during the mid-'80s began writing and directing audio plays of his own, seeking his initial inspiration in the texts of Heiner Mueller. Beginning in 1988, Goebbels also turned to authoring chamber music with the Ensemble Modern, and in 1994 completed "Surrogate Cities," his first major composition for symphony orchestra. His recordings for ECM include La Jalousie/Red Run/Herakles 2/Befreiung, the Edgar Allen Poe-inspired SHADOW/Landscape with Argonauts, Der Mann im Fahrstuhl, and Ou Bien le Débarquement Désastreux.