Anton Safronov is a Russian composer, pedagogue, and music publicist. He was born on 19 May 1972 in Moscow, USSR. In 1991 he graduated from the school affiliated with the Moscow Conservatory, and in 1996 he completed composition studies at the Conservatory under Edison Denisov. He also finished postgraduate studies there in 1999.
Safronov trained further in Germany with Walter Zimmermann at the Berlin University of the Arts and with Wolfgang Rihm at the Karlsruhe University of Music. He also attended master classes by Paul-Heinz Dittrich, Beat Furrer, Peter Ruzicka, and the Ensemble Modern Youth Forum. From 2003 to 2009 he taught at the Moscow Conservatory, where he gave courses in analysis of musical works and a seminar on 20th-century music. Since 2009 he has taught at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Alongside his composing work, he has appeared with master classes and lectures, published articles, and hosted radio programs about contemporary music, including for the journal Musical Life. In 2004-2009 he was a member of the editorial board and a contributor to the journal Tribune of Contemporary Music. He also worked as coordinator of projects for the festivals Territory (2008-2009) and Another Space (2010-2020), for the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (2009-2011), and for the Gallery of Actual Music Ensemble (GAM-Ensemble, 2012-2021). Since 2020 he has been artistic director of the Edison Denisov International Association.
He received First Prize at the First International Competition for Young Composers named after P. Jurgenson in 2001 and at the International Music Festival in Besancon in 1996. His graduation composition at the Moscow Conservatory, Space of Lasting Feeling for symphony orchestra (1996), won the First Prize at the Besancon international composers' competition. His chamber orchestra work Pages from Yesterday - Pages from Tomorrow (1999/2004) also received First Prize at the Jurgenson competition. His composition SON - ... CHRONOS for soloist ensemble (2000/2005), commissioned by the Berlin Senate for Culture, was performed by Ensemble Modern at the annual Youth Forum of the Society for New Music in Frankfurt am Main in 2001.
Among Safronov's works are Reflections ... riflessioni... for viola, cello, and double bass; sentimento... - CODA in memory of Edison Denisov for solo piano; Farewell Bird for soloist with flute and bass flute; Dreams of Chronos, a musical-choreographic composition for ensemble; Morning Rain for percussion quartet; Two Pieces from the Imaginary Monotheatre of Vladimir Mayakovsky for female voice and ensemble; Papageno (... the last temptation); Bach ... music to wait out the darkness for ensemble; the 4th episode from the project Lullaby to Moscow for ensemble and electronics; and Lava - Entropy for dancer and ensemble. Many of these works were premiered in Germany, France, Italy, and Russia by ensembles specializing in contemporary music.
Safronov is also the author of reconstructions of unfinished or lost works by Mozart and Schubert. These include the third movement, based on Schubert's own sketches, and a hypothetical fourth movement for Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, later performed in this version by Vladimir Jurowski with the Russian National Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He also created a new orchestral version of the unfinished Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem and a hypothetical reconstruction of the lost ballet intermezzo from Mozart's opera Ascanio in Alba.
Connections
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