New Music and contemporary stuff
Website of the composer
Verena Weinmann
Biography

Verena Weinmann (* 1994 in Frauenfeld, Switzerland) is a composer and activist from Winterthur and is currently studying composition with Mauricio Sotelo at ESMuC in Barcelona. She successfully completed her Bachelor’s degree in composition with Michel Roth at the Basel Music Academy (FHNW) in July 2019.
Her orchestral piece „Hills of Torreón“ was awarded the special jury prize of the international composition competition Rychenberg Competition on September 9th, 2020 and was recorded and performed by the Musikkollegium Winterthur under the direction of Thomas Zehetmair.
2017 commissioned to compose «Der Grosse Misthaufen» for Ensemble SoloVoices; Cooperation among others with saxophonist Marcus Weiss, recorded by Radio SRF2 Kultur, Gare du Nord, in the concert «Lobet die Nacht».
Since 2018 co-founder and project manager of the association Vocal Ensemble NeuSang.
Since 2015 participation in various projects of the festival ZeitRäume Basel (Biennale for new music and architecture). 2019 collaboration among others with composer Hannes Seidl in the ZeitRäume project «Überläufer *».
Since autumn 2015 keyboarder of the Latin Folk Rock band «Mondsucher».
At the age of 10, Verena began taking private piano lessons, which she continued with Carl Wolf in 2009 and intensified as part of her preparatory studies at the Winterthur Conservatory. She received her first classical composition lessons there in 2014 from Roman Digion. At the beginning of 2015 she began to take an interest in politics and since then has published several articles for the magazine «der Funke» and one article in the Swiss music magazine «Dissonance». Among others, she visited Master classes from Salvatore Sciarrino, Georges Aperghis, James Saunders, Misato Mochizuki, Elena Rykova and Martin Matalon.
Verena is currently interested in art and cultural projects on hot topics that can be implemented by professional musicians and non-musicians, in order to build bridges between audiences and new music.
Media
«Hills of Torreón» for the Rychenberg Competition. Based on the foto series «Wounds of Violence» by Adél Koleszár.
Orchestra: Musikkollegium Winterthur
Direction: Thomas Zehetmair
Überläufer* – Eine performative Klang-Raum-Komposition (2019 UA) – 70´ (TRAILER) from Innenarchitektur und Szenografie on Vimeo.
«Nachtregen» 10.6.2019, Music-Academy Basel:
Voice: Aimée Hege, Samuel Cook, Livia Spring
E-Bass: Jonas Marti
E-Guitar: Diego Aguirre, Marius Schnurr
Live-Electronics: Arev Imer
Mondsucher at BandXnordwest 2019, Sommercasino Basel Diploma concert «Vom Regen in den Misthaufen» Music Academy Basel, Klaus-Linder-Saal, June 2019 bare score for «Nachtregen» FOTO: © Susanna Drescher 2019
CRESCENDOING CLOUDS Symposium 29. – 30. MÄRZ 2019 ÜBERLÄUFER. MUSIK UND MIGRATION Performance. Ein Projekt der Studiengänge Audiodesign, Improvisation, Komposition sowie Zeitgenössische Musik in Kooperation mit der Forschungsabteilung der Hochschule für Musik FHNW sowie dem Festival ZeitRäume Basel – Biennale für neue Musik und Architektur. Mit Studierenden aus dem Bereich Neue Musik: Bella Adamova, Adrian Albaladejo, Chi Him Chik, Pablo Gonzalez, Nejc Grm, Jan Gubser, Roberto Maqueda, Christian Moser, Chris Moy, Alicja Pilarczyk, Florian Röhrl, Dativo Tobarra, Dimos Vryzas, Verena Weinmann Hannes Seidl – Künstlerische Leitung Meike Olbrich – Produktionsleitung Vera Oeri-Bibliothek 1. März 2019Mondsucher (beginning on the left): Jano Vega, Lautaro Tesar, Verena Weinmann, Agustín Del Pozo