Richard Dünser

From 1987, he taught composition at the Innsbruck department of the Mozarteum University Salzburg as well as at the Vorarlberg State Conservatory, and in 1991 he was appointed professor of music theory at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where he has also led a composition class since 2004. Dünser was composer in residence of the Wiener Konzertverein (the chamber orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra) and, with Christian Roscheck, co-initiator of the concert series of the same name at the Wiener Musikverein (Brahmssaal).

His most important works, which have been interpreted by international ensembles, conductors and soloists, include the orchestral piece Der Wanderer (commissioned by the Neue Arbeiterzeitung in 1986 and premiered by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1988), the string quartet "Elegie. An Diotima" (premiere 1987), the violin concerto premiered at the Bregenz Festival in 1993, his version of the Schubert's Der Graf von Gleichen, which was premiered at the Graz Styriarte in 1997 and was heard in a new version at the Bregenz Festival in 2003, and the ensemble piece "...breeding lilacs out of the dead land...", commissioned by the Klangforum Wien and premiered at the Konzerthaus there. (1998). In recent years, his works have included "Threnody" for flute, clarinet and guitar (1999), The Waste Land for orchestra (2003, Bregenz Festival) and the "Ophelia music for guitar", "Shell Hat and Sandal Slipper", which received its world premiere in London in October 2003 by Alexander Swete and was also performed at the Vienna Konzerthaus a year later. His opera Radek was premiered at the 2006 Bregenz Festival, a commission in co-production with the Neue Oper Wien. He also composed works for chamber orchestra and chamber ensemble, song cycles and chamber music for various instruments.

Born in Bregenz, Dünser studied composition after his Matura first at the Conservatory [de] of his hometown and later at the Vienna Academy of Music with Francis Burt. From 1985 to 1987, he studied composition with Hans Werner Henze at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, and in 1987 he was a composition fellow there. He was for a summer composition scholar in Tanglewood, U.S.

Richard Dünser (born 1 May 1959) is an Austrian composer of stage works, orchestral music and chamber music, among others.