Events
TORSO — EPITAPH for choir and orchestra (2018/2019, rev. 2026)
Saisoneröffnung im KKL mit Mahlers Auferstehungssinfonie
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester
Regula Mühlemann, soprano
Anna Lapovskaja, mezzosoprano
Zürcher Sing-Akademie
Collegium Vocale zu Franziskanern Luzern
Michael Sanderling
Wed, 14 october 2026, 19:30
Thu, 15 october 2026, 19:30
KKL Lucerne
NEW WORK for chamber ensemble (World Premiere)
Le Vol des Abeilles
Mahler Multimedia
Orchestre Musique des Lumières
Facundo Agudin
Mon, 17 may 2027, 19:00
Espace La Velle, Le Noirmont
NEW WORK for Chamber Music (World Premiere)
Kammermusik Basel
Oliver Schnyder Trio (Zürich)
Andreas Janke, violin
Benjamin Nyffenegger, violoncello
Oliver Schnyder, piano
Klaus Schwärzler, percussion
Benjamin Forster, percussion
Janic Sarott, percussion
Tue 08 June 2027, 19:30
Stadtcasino Basel, Hans Huber-Saal
Works
Operas
Edward II
Opera in 10 scenes
after Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II
Libretto by Thomas Jonigk
85 min.
Deutsche Oper Berlin 2017
Der Sandmann
Opera in 10 scenes
after E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann
Libretto by Thomas Jonigk
80 min.
Theater Basel 2012, Oper Frankfurt 2016
Wut
Opera in 7 scenes and an epilogue
after the story of Pedro I of Portugal and his mistress Ines de Castro
Libretto by Christian Martin Fuchs
75 min.
Theater Erfurt 2006, Theater Bern 2010
Orchestral works – Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle
Torso
for orchestra (2018)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement I*
5 min.
Einkehr
for soprano, alto, choir and orchestra (2024)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement X*
5 min.
Enigma
for choir (ad lib.) and orchestra (2024)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement IX*
5:30 min.
Anima
for alto, choir (ad lib.) and orchestra (2024)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement VIII*
6 min.
Orkus
for orchestra (2023)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement VII*
5 min.
Omen
for orchestra (2023)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement VI*
5 min.
Einklang
for orchestra (2021)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement V*
5 min.
Incantesimo
for soprano (ad lib.) and orchestra (2020)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement IV*
5 min.
Spiriti
for orchestra (2019)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement III*
5:30 min.
Epitaph
for choir (ad lib.) and orchestra (2019)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement II*
7:30 min.
Torso
for orchestra (2018)
Mahler-Scartazzini Cycle, movement I*
5 min.
*Each of these compositions can also be programmed independently.
Other orchestral works
Earth
for orchestra (2025)
17 min.
Dies illa
for choir and orchestra (2023)
10 min.
Wunde(r)
for orchestra (2022)
10 min.
Salve
for orchestra (2020)
8 min.
Viaggiatori
for soli, choir and orchestra
on texts of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Adolf Wölfli, Dante Alighieri and Friedrich Hölderlin (2011)
35 min.
Siegel
for soprano and orchestra
on a sonnet of Rainer Maria Rilke (2008)
12 min.
Pollux
for chamber orchestra (1999)
12 min.
Chamber music
The Inward Sky
Sextet for piano trio and three percussionists (2026)
17 min.
So sieht’s aus
Version of 4 songs for soprano and strings on poems by Nora Gomringer (2025)
12 min.
Bruckner-Blume
for organ (2022)
Window onto Bruckner’s
So sieht’s aus
6 Songs for soprano and piano on poems of Nora Gomringer (2021)
16 min.
String Quartet No. 1 (2017/19)
18 min.
Kassiopeia
for ensemble (2008)
20 min.
Nachttief und Mond
Three miniatures for countertenor (or alto) and violoncello
on texts of Arno Schmidt (2007)
4 min.
Abracci auguri
for piano (2003)
3 min.
Katarakt
for large ensemble (2003)
10 min.
Sappho-Lieder
6 Songs for low voice and piano
German adaptation by Raoul Schrott (2002)
11 min.
Geleit
for large ensemble (2001)
9 min.
in giro
for 3 instrumental groups (2000)
10 min.
Im traum hab ich mit dir geredet, göttin, kypris
for female voice and four players on fragments of Sappho
German adaptation by Raoul Schrott (2000)
10 min.
Il pozzo sepolto
for piano and 5 winds (1998)
6 min.
Cammina cammina
for mezzo-soprano, viola and theorbo on poems of Giuseppe Ungaretti (Italian) (1996)
7 min.
Further information available at Bärenreiter.
Biography
English
Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini (*1971 in Basel) is one of the distinctive Swiss composers of his generation. His music combines emotional immediacy with harmonic richness, sonic colour and formal clarity. His work is shaped by an engagement with existential and psychological themes, as well as by the connection between literary thinking and composition.
Scartazzini studied literary studies at the University of Basel before beginning his composition studies with Rudolf Kelterborn at the Basel Music Academy. He continued his studies with Wolfgang Rihm in Karlsruhe and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Further important stages in his career included positions as Composer in Residence and lecturer at the University of Witten/Herdecke, a residency as Artist in Residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, and a fellowship at the International Artists’ House Villa Concordia in Bamberg.
From 2018 to 2025, Scartazzini was Composer in Residence of the Jena Philharmonic. During this period, he created the Mahler Scartazzini Cycle, in which he places a short symphonic piece before each of Gustav Mahler’s ten symphonies. Mahler’s musical world thus becomes a resonant space for his own compositional questions. The resulting works have been released as a cycle by the label Odradek.
Music theatre forms an important focus of Scartazzini’s work. In his three operas WUT, Der Sandmann and Edward II., he combines his expressive musical language with subjects that explore psychological abysses, power and violence, fear and desire. WUT has been performed at the theatres of Erfurt and Bern, Der Sandmann at Theater Basel and Oper Frankfurt, and Edward II. at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Scartazzini’s works are performed by numerous orchestras and ensembles in Switzerland and abroad, including the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Bremen Philharmonic, the Jena Philharmonic, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Musique des Lumières, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Ensemble Modern and the Quatuor Diotima. His music has been heard at international festivals including the Lucerne Festival and the Gustav Mahler Music Weeks in Toblach.
For his compositional work, Scartazzini has received numerous awards, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Study Prize, the Jakob Burckhardt Award of the Goethe Foundation Basel and the Alexander Clavel Prize in Riehen. His works are published by Bärenreiter. Scartazzini serves as a jury member of the Basel Composition Competition.
Scartazzini lives and works in Basel and Fuerteventura.
Deutsch
Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini (*1971 in Basel) gehört zu den markanten Schweizer Komponistenpersönlichkeiten seiner Generation. Seine Musik verbindet emotionale Unmittelbarkeit mit harmonischer Fülle, klanglicher Farbigkeit und formaler Klarheit. Die Auseinandersetzung mit existenziellen und psychologischen Themen prägt sein Schaffen ebenso wie die Verbindung von literarischem Denken und kompositorischer Arbeit.
Scartazzini studierte Literaturwissenschaft an der Universität Basel, bevor er bei Rudolf Kelterborn ein Kompositionsstudium an der Musikakademie Basel aufnahm. Seine Ausbildung setzte er bei Wolfgang Rihm in Karlsruhe und an der Royal Academy of Music in London fort. Weitere wichtige Stationen waren seine Tätigkeiten als Composer in Residence und Dozent an der Universität Witten/Herdecke, ein Aufenthalt als Artist in Residence im Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai sowie ein Stipendium am Internationalen Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia in Bamberg.
Von 2018 bis 2025 war Scartazzini Composer in Residence der Jenaer Philharmonie. In dieser Zeit entstand der Mahler-Scartazzini-Zyklus, in dem Scartazzini jeder der zehn Sinfonien Gustav Mahlers ein kurzes sinfonisches Stück voranstellt. Mahlers musikalische Welt wird dabei zum Resonanzraum für eigene kompositorische Fragen. Die daraus hervorgegangenen Werke sind beim Label Odradek als Zyklus erschienen.
Einen wichtigen Schwerpunkt seines Schaffens bildet das Musiktheater. In seinen drei Opern WUT, Der Sandmann und Edward II. verbindet Scartazzini seine expressive Musiksprache mit Stoffen, die von psychologischen Abgründen, Macht und Gewalt, Angst und Begehren erzählen. WUT wurde an den Theatern Erfurt und Bern, Der Sandmann am Theater Basel und an der Oper Frankfurt und Edward II. an der Deutschen Oper Berlin aufgeführt.
Scartazzinis Werke werden von zahlreichen Orchestern und Ensembles im In- und Ausland gespielt, darunter das Sinfonieorchester Basel, das Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, die Bremer Philharmoniker, die Jenaer Philharmonie, das Kammerorchester Basel, das Orchestre Musique des Lumières, das Ensemble Intercontemporain, das Ensemble Modern und das Quatuor Diotima. Seine Musik war bei internationalen Festivals wie dem Lucerne Festival und den Gustav Mahler Musikwochen Toblach zu hören.
Für sein kompositorisches Schaffen erhielt Scartazzini zahlreiche Auszeichnungen, darunter den Studienpreis der Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, die Jakob Burckhardt-Auszeichnung der Goethe-Stiftung Basel und den Alexander Clavel-Preis Riehen. Seine Werke erscheinen im Bärenreiter-Verlag. Scartazzini ist Jurymitglied des Basel Composition Competition.
Scartazzini lebt und arbeitet in Basel und Fuerteventura.
Recordings
