Sef Albertz
*4 March 1971
Works by Sef Albertz
Biography
NEW: Take a look at ALBERTZ's COMPOSER BROCHURE and discover more of his fascinating music and artistic trajectory.
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“Sef gathers that vast spectrum of the human spirit that allows, in Art, to confront and fraternize tradition with the audacious of contemporaneity to create a cosmopolitan vision of Venezuelan identity”. With these words, the legendary Venezuelan Maestro Alirio Díaz described the versatile creative world of his countryman Sef Albertz (*1971).
After carrying out his studies in music and electronic engineering in his native Venezuela, Albertz moved in 2000 to Germany, where he completed his artistic postgraduate studies as a composer (Musikakademie Kassel) and guitarist (Musikhochschule Münster) with outstanding results: “An integral musician with an immense culture” as recognized by his colleague Leo Brouwer, the well-known Ibero-American composer and guitarist.
With over a hundred works composed, Albertz’s compositional output includes solo, chamber, electroacoustic and orchestral music. Some relevant works:
- ‘The world through Emilia's dreams‘ for Piano & Orchestra │ Commissioned by Kammerphilharmonie der Universität Stuttgart │ Premiere: Bürgersaal Vaihingen, Stuttgart 2020
- ‘Ludovicus and the Allegories of the Sea’ for Piano │ Commissioned as part of the Germany-wide initiative ‘Beethoven bei uns’ │ Premiere: Weimar 2019
- ‘Con ecos de otras voces, desde lejos, desde muy lejos’ for Fl., Cl., Perc. & Piano │ Commissioned by Junta de Andalucía & ‘Manuel de Falla’ Chair (Spain) │ Premiere: XVI Spanish Music Festival of Cádiz (2018)
- ‘Piano Concerto’ │ Premiere: MDR Festival of Lights 2016, Leipzig
- ‘Southern Lights’ for Piano, BigBand & Orchestra │ Commissioned by Central German Broadcasting │ Premiere: MDR Festival of Lights 2016, Leipzig
- ‘Ciaccona’ (after Bach), for Piano & String Orchestra │ Premiere: Leipzig BachFest 2016
- ‘Danza, Escena & Joropo’, for Solo Piano │ Premiere: Steinway Klavierhaus 2015
- ‘La noche juega, sin palabras, en la mirada’ for Violin, Cello, Piano & Percussion │ Premiere: German National Library 2013
- ‘Azul-Luz en la estación’, Fantasia for Guitar & Orchestra (new version) │ Commissioned by Instituto Cervantes (Spain) │ Premiere: Opening concert of the Festival ‘Con Guitarra!’ 2011, Leipzig
- ‘Songs without words’ (after Mendelssohn), for Guitar & String Orchestra │ Commissioned by GfzM e.V. & UNESCO │ Premiere: Gewandhaus zu Leipzig (Mendelssohn-Jahr, Sept. 2009)
The music of Sef Albertz has been performed in Brazil, Chile, Cuba, England, Germany, Holland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Venezuela, etc.
Albertz was founder and artistic director of the Festival Con Guitarra! (“A fine Festival…a Jewel”, Leipziger Volkszeitung). He’s also literary active with poetry books & essays.
The compositional projects of Sef Albertz have been commissioned and sponsored by national and international institutions such as:
- Central German Broadcasting
- Gesellschaft für zeitgenössische Musikvermittlung GfzM e.V. (Germany)
- Instituto Cervantes (Spain)
- Junta de Andalucía (Spain)
- ‚Manuel de Falla‘ Chair (Spain)
- LARA Foundation for Culture, FUNDALARA (Venezuela)
- Leipzig Kulturamt
- MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra
- UNESCO, etc.
Current compositional works include two extensive cycles of multimedial works supported by grants from 3 renowned institutions of German cultural life:
- Musikfonds e.V.
- Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen
- German Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights (GEMA)
The creative work of Albertz is recorded on several CD albums:
- Con Guitarra! (With Guitar!, 2011)
- Infancia (Childhood, 2012)
- Hommage (Tribute, 2013)
- Seasons (2015)
- Platero & Ich (Platero and I, 2016)
Recents recording projects include the first worldwide publication of two new albums comprising his piano oeuvre: ‘Resplendences around Bach’ (“...a skillful dramaturgical connection to a fascinating musical world, a delightful combination of progressive and traditional elements...southern temperament and profundity” - MDR Press) and ‘In the Secret of the World’ (“Such a super exciting recording. So much sounded so familiar. A beautiful mixture of different influences. In a way, a very modern but still very familiar sounding album full of musical discoveries, one must say” - Feuilletöne). All these projects together with his long-time artistic accomplice, the German pianist Anna-Maria Maak, with whom Sef Albertz creates an artist couple that reconstructs the tradition of musical collaboration, as once did Clara and Robert Schumann or Yvonne Loriod and Olivier Messiaen, but in their own particular way. According to Estonian-American conductor Kristjan Järvi, “A great composer...a fantastic performer...a powerful work!”.
More Information under: www.sefalbertz.com
About the music
In the own words of Sef Albertz: "My compositional style is an amalgam of elements from different cultures, in which extra-musical influences, the rethinking of tradition and my own system of sound organisation challenge the audience without disturbing the listening experience. Everything in my life is a composition, a creative process that always brings in itself something beautiful, deep and stimulating at the same time. It’s my ‘life maxim’. So, quite consciously, I can say that I’m in a full-time occupation. Composing is my passion”.
REVIEWS:
On Album In the Secret of the World (Albertz’s Piano works II)
“A beautiful mixture of different influences. In a way, a very modern but still very familiar sounding album full of musical discoveries” (Feuilletöne, 2021)
On Album Resplendences around Bach (Albertz’s Piano works I)
“...a skillful dramaturgical connection to a fascinating musical world, a delightful combination of progressive and traditional elements [...] southern temperament and profundity” (MDR Press, 2019)
On Sef Albertz's compositional style
“Sef gathers that vast spectrum of the human spirit that allows, in Art, to confront and fraternize tradition with the audacious of contemporaneity to create a cosmopolitan vision of Venezuelan identity” (Maestro Alirio Díaz, Venezuelan Musician)
New large-scale Work & New Album
After devoting himself entirely to writing works for other instruments and ensembles, Sef Albertz has so returned to his original instrument - the guitar - not only with a new large-scale composition («...was man mir einst erzählte!»), but also with a new album release dedicated to the six-stringed instrument: With «Bunch of Strings» A Trilogy Con Guitarra!, Sef Albertz expands the spectrum of the guitar, not only in terms of sound, but also in terms of repertoire.
The starting point of the Trilogy is his three-movement Suite for Solo Guitar «...alla Bach!» (in the style of Bach): a conscious search for the musical presence of the great Thomaskantor (Church Cantor of St. Thomas) from Leipzig.
Then, with compositional reinterpretations - unprecedented in the repertoire of the instrument - Albertz constructs a chamber music dialogue of the guitar with itself and, subsequently, with the string instruments, based on two milestones of music: Robert Schumann’s «Kinderszenen» (Children’s Scenes), in a version for Guitar Quartet, and Felix Mendelssohn’s «Lieder ohne Worte» (Songs without Words), an adaptation for Guitar and Strings.
The full album will be released digitally on 17 May, anticipated by three single releases on 23 February, 22 March and 19 April.
Voices from the classical guitar world have expressed their satisfaction about the forthcoming album, describing Albertz's interpretative and compositional skills as:
"...an excellent work [...] undoubtedly extraordinary!"
(Leo Brouwer: Cuban composer and guitarist - leading figure in the guitar world)
"It sounds absolutely wonderful. Congratulations to the arrangement and to your beautiful playing!"
(Göran Söllscher: Swedish guitarist, Prof. Malmö Academy of Music - Lund University, Deutsche Grammophon Artist)
"What a wonderful piece of work! [...] I am looking forward to playing it"
(Karin Schaupp: Australian guitarist, Head of the Classical Guitar Department at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University)
