Composer
Biography:
The portrait of Matthew Arter results from a wide range of his activities. He is a soloist, composer, ensemble and orchestra musician, university lecturer or project manager, and each of these tasks also shapes the other aspects of his personality as an artist. He grew up and received his initial training in Zurich (with Peter Fuchs and Thomas Indermühle), and later also studied with Heinz Hollinger (Freiburg im Breisgau) and also received important impulses from personalities in the ›early music scene‹ such as Johann Sonnleitner, Matthias Weilenmann and Pedro Memelsdorff.
The work with his ensembles (Octomania, Arion Quintet, æquatuor) has accompanied and shaped him for many years, regular recitals with various pianists, the harpist Priska Zaugg and the guitarist/theorbist Markus Hochuli show him with a repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to to the latest music. A specialty are his solo programs, which always explore the limits of his instruments to the limit - three of them have been documented on CD so far, ›Oboe solo‹, ›Oboe plus‹ and ›Couleurs‹. His instruments: these are the representatives of the oboe family, from the musette to the bass oboe, as well as the melodica and occasionally an instrument that he developed in collaboration with the visual artist Vincenzo Baviera: the cyclophone.
The projects that Matthias Arter initiates and directs are often transdisciplinary, which never means a mere juxtaposition of different art forms. On the contrary, every element and every artist involved should influence and shape the other disciplines. In this context, the encounter with other cultures is particularly exciting: numerous concert tours and intensive contacts with musicians, especially from the countries of the Caucasus and ex-Yugoslavia, lead to a deeper understanding of what at first glance seems different or foreign, and many friendships that have developed in this way to invitations and artistic partnerships across cultural and political borders. This intercultural work begins in close cooperation with Boris Previšic and is carried out under the umbrella of the non-profit association ›pre-art‹.
Performances of his works at the Zurich New Music Days, in the City of Zurich Music Podium and at other festivals in Switzerland, Germany, Georgia, Armenia, Canada and Albania. Matthias Arter is also active as a conductor, he teaches oboe, chamber music and improvisation at the Bern University of the Arts and is solo oboist in the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Collegium Novum Zurich. Since 2007 he has been President of the Schweizerischer Tonkünstlerverein (STV), the Swiss composers' association.
Albums:
