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Biography

Born November 30, 1924, Bern

Violin studies at Zurich Conservatory with Stefi Geyer, composition lessons with Willy Burkhard, 1955/56 with Boris Blacher (Berlin).

In 1959, international breakthrough at the ISCM World Days in Rome with the chamber cantata Des Engels Anredung an die Seele, which won 1st Prize in the chamber music category.
From 1964 to 1973, head of the composition class at the Musikakademie Basel.
In 1966, 1968 and 1972, he directed composition seminars at the Gaudeamus Foundation in Bilthoven, Holland.
In 1969, founded the International Composers’ Seminar in Boswil, Switzerland.
In 1970, awarded the Beethoven Prize by the City of Bonne for Tenebrae.
From 1973 to 1990, head of the composition class and the New Music Institute at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau. His students include Brian Ferneyhough and Hans Wüthrich in Basel, Wolfgang Rihm, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Michael Jarrell, Günter Steinke, Dieter Mack, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Johannes Schöllhorn and many other famous composers.
In 1978, Kunstpreis of the City of Basel.
From 1979 to 1982, President of the Swiss Musicians’ Association.
In 1984, he began his international activities as a guest professor throughout the world, in Europe and Canada, South America, Japan, Korea, China etc.
In 1991, he resigned from his position at the Musikhochschule Freiburg and now works exclusively as a freelance composer and guest teacher.

Klaus Huber is a member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, the Akademie der Künste Berlin, an honorary member of the ISCM and honorary doctor of the Université de Strasbourg (2000) and of the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig (2009). He lives in Bremen and Panicale (Umbria).
Since 1975, his works have been published by Ricordi in Munich. Previously (from 1956) they were published by Bärenreiter in Kassel and (from 1970) by Schott in Mainz. His autographs are held by the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel.

Other awards (among others): Culture and Peace Prize from Villa Ichon, Bremen (2002), Schwäbisch Gmünd Liturgical Music Prize 2007, Salzburg City Music Prize 2009 and Ernst von Siemens Prize 2009.

All his texts written up to 1998 have been published under the title Umgepflügte Zeit, edited by Max Nyffeler and published by MusikTexte in Cologne. Other publications include: Klaus Huber, dossier musique, Pro Helvetia/Zytglogge Verlag, 1989; unterbrochene Zeichen – Klaus Huber, Pfau Verlag, Saarbrücken, 2005; Klaus Huber, double volume (137-138) of Musik-Konzepte 2007, Edition text+kritik, 2007; Klaus Huber: Von Zeit zu Zeit. Das Gesamtschaffen, interviews with Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, 2009, Wolke-Verlag (English edition in preparation); Klaus Huber dossier, Éditions Entretemps 7/1988, Paris; Klaus Huber: Écrits, Éditions Contrechamps, Geneva, 1991.