Sarah Nemtsov

Born in 1980 in Oldenburg, Sarah Nemtsov studied composition in Hannover and Berlin with Nigel Osborne, Johannes Schöllhorn and Walter Zimmermann, as well as oboe with Klaus Becker and Burkhard Glaetzner. She has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Busoni Composition Prize of the Berlin Academy of the Arts, the Deutsche Musikautorenpreis of the GEMA and won the international RicordiLAB composition competition. She collaborates with renowned ensembles and orchestras (HR Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester, RSO Vienna, WDR Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Klangforum Wien, ensemble modern, ensemble mosaik, Ensemble Adapter, Nikel ensemble, Decoder ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, ensemble recherche, Basel Sinfonietta, Finnish Baroque orchestra etc.) and her works are performed at internationally renowned festivals – such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Darmstadt Summer Course, Wien modern, ECLAT, Ultraschall, Holland Festival, Musica, Bregenz Festival, Munich Biennale, Ruhrtriennale and many more. Nemtsov’s music captivates through sensitively sounded setups, through complex and energetic textures, musical stratifications, interactions between acoustic instruments and electronics, as well as collaboration with and references to other arts and other media. In 2014, Sarah Nemtsov taught composition at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Cologne, in 2018 she taught composition at Haifa University as a DAAD guest lecturer. In 2021 she was tutor for composition at Darmstadt Summer Course. In 2020, she was nominated for the Opus Klassik Prize in the category “Composer of the Year”. 2021 she was elected as a member of the Akademie der Künste (The Academy of Arts) Berlin as well as the Saxon Academy of the Arts. Since 2022, she is professor for composition at the University Mozarteum Salzburg, Austria. Her catalogue includes more than 150 compositions in almost all genres. Since 2016 her works are published by Ricordi. DIE ZEIT wrote about her opera SACRIFICE (premiered 2017 at the Opera House Halle): “Sound becomes space becomes time becomes reality”. Her highly acclaimed opera „SACRIFICE“ (2016) – premiered in March 2017 at Opera Halle – was described by Die ZEIT as a work in which „sound becomes space becomes time becomes reality.“ In 2022, at festival Ruhrtriennale, her cycle „HAUS“ was staged at the turbine hall Bochum – „an unleashed ectasy of sound that opens up spaces of association“ (nmz). Her newest opera – „OPHELIA“ (2020-2021) with a libretto by Mirko Bonné – will be premiered in 2023 at Saarländisches Staatstheater. Currently Sarah Nemtsov works on her tetralogy „TZIMTZUM“ for four soloists and orchestra, as well as on another opera: „WE“ (after E. Zamyatin) for opera Dortmund, premiere in 2024.