Rebecca Saunders
Composition Tutor
Which sound is special for you?
Everything and anything. Sentimental – the atlantic sea, true – distant roar of far away traffic, classic – several big church bells, giggling, incredibly low fluctuating drones, a very big bass drum played with a big fat fluffy beater, sounds surfacing very very slowly out of silence, singing in unison.
What should a young musician do most (importantly)?
be and stay curious and love it! composers – hear your music as much as possible and write only what you want and need to hear.
Paper or Tablet?
paper
Born in 1967 in London. With her distinctive and intensely striking sonic language, Berlin-based British composer Rebecca Saunders is a leading international representative of her generation.
Saunders pursues an intense interest in the sculptural and spatial properties of organised sound and seeks a close collaborative dialogue with a variety of contemporary musicians and artists.
She studied composition with Nigel Osborne and Wolfgang Rihm. Saunders has received numerous prizes, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2019, and most received in 2024 the Golden Lion for Music from the Venice Biennale. She received an Honorary Doctorate from the Universities of Huddersfield in 2018 and Edinburgh in 2023. She is a member of the Academies of Arts in Berlin, Dresden and Munich.
Rebecca Saunders has been a regular tutor in composition at the Darmstadt Summer Course since 2010.