Thomas Larcher


Thomas Larcher is an Austrian composer and pianist.
WWW thomaslarcher.com

Biography and Work

Thomas Larcher completed his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna under Heinz Medjimorec and Elisabeth Leonskaja, and Erich Urbanner. He became well known as a pianist whilst at university, focusing particularly in the area of contemporary music.
Larcher has performed under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Dennis Russell Davies and Franz Welser-Möst, and worked closely with composers such as Heinz Holliger, Olga Neuwirth and Isabel Mundry. He is also active in the sphere of music festivals: he founded the Klangspuren festival and the chamber music festival Musik im Riesen in Swarovski Kristallwelten Wattens. Since 2023 he is artistic leader of the chamber music festival listening closely.
For some years now, Larcher has dedicated himself primarily to composing and is today considered one of the leading composers of contemporary classical music in Austria. His early works are scored almost exclusively for piano and chamber orchestra. In recent years, his oeuvre has also encompassed, alongside chamber music, more compositions for orchestra and ensemble, as well as works for soloist and orchestra.
Larcher has been composer in residence at Aldeburgh Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall and Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland. He has written numerous compositions for internationally renowned soloists and ensembles such as the London Sinfonietta, the Artemis Quartet, Heinrich Schiff, Matthias Goerne, Till Fellner, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He has been commissioned by the Lucerne Festival, London’s Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall, and the Zaterdagmatinee in Amsterdam.
Music by Thomas Larcher was used for the ballet “Kaspar Hauser” by Tim Plegge and for “Die Liebe kann tanzen” by Stephan Toss.
Thomas Larcher is a member of the Austrian Art Senate and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

Awards

Selected works

Larcher's works are published by Schott Music.
;OperaThe Hunting Gun, opera in three acts, libretto by after a short novel by Yasushi Inoue
;Orchestral worksRed and Green for large orchestra
;Orchestral works with solo instrumentStill for viola and chamber orchestra Heute for soprano and orchestra Böse Zellen for piano and orchestra
  • Concerto for violin and orchestra
  • Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra A Padmore Cycle for tenor and orchestra Alle Tage Symphony No 1 for baritone and orchestra Ouroboros for violoncello and orchestra
  • Concerto for piano and orchestra
;Ensemble worksNocturne – Insomnia Die Nacht der Verlorenen for baritone and ensemble Wie der Euro nach Bern kam und wie er wieder verschwand for ensemble My Illness Is the Medicine I Need for soprano and ensemble The Living Mountain for soprano and ensemble – text by Nan Shepherd; in cooperation with photographer Awoiska van der Molen
;Chamber musicCold Farmer, String Quartet No. 1 Kraken for violin, cello and piano Mumien for cello and piano My Illness Is the Medicine I Need for soprano, violin, cello and piano Uchafu for trumpet and piano IXXU, String Quartet No. 2 Madhares, String Quartet No. 3 A Padmore Cycle for tenor and piano Splinters for violoncello and piano Lyrical Lights for tenor and clarinet lucid dreams, String Quartet No. 4 A Padmore Cycle for tenor and piano trio deep red / deep blue for flute and piano
;PianoKlavierstück 1986 Naunz Noodivihik Antennen-Requiem für H. Smart Dust What Becomes/Was wird Poems, 12 pieces for pianists and other children Innerberger Bauerntanz for piano
  • Movement for solo piano
;VioloncelloVier Seiten for cello
  • Sonata for violoncello
;VocalDas Spiel ist aus for 24-part choir

Selected discography

CDs with music by Thomas LarcherNaunz IXXU Madhares What Becomes Symphony No. 2, Kenotaph Alle Tage/violin concerto The Living Mountain
CDs with Thomas Larcher as interpreterArnold Schoenberg, Franz Schubert: Piano Pieces/Klavierstücke Hanns Eisler: ''Ernste Gesänge – Lieder with piano''