Sef Albertz
*4 March 1971
Works by Sef Albertz
Biography
NEW: Take a look at «Albertz's composer brochure» and discover more of his fascinating music and artistic trajectory.
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With a rich Œuvre including solo, chamber, electroacoustic and orchestral music, which has received world premieres and performances in many countries throughout Europe and the Americas, the creative work of the Venezuelan-German composer Sef Albertz (*1971) is praised for its transcultural insight, where extra-musical influences and the rethinking of tradition challenge the audience without disturbing the listening: “My wish is to go beyond sound itself to create a musical metaphor that conveys an artistic message tangibly”, states Albertz himself, whose projects have been commissioned and funded by leading organisations including Instituto Cervantes, MDR Sinfonieorchester and UNESCO.
„Albertz‘s music is everything at once: Philosophical and poetic, sophisticated and simple, thoughtful and passionate. It draws from the full source“ (MDR Kultur, 2024)
Sef Albertz - himself a skilled guitarist “who dominates his instrument masterfully” (KulturAspekte) - was founder and artistic director of the «Festival Con Guitarra!» (“A fine Festival…a Jewel”, Leipziger Volkszeitung). He’s also literary active with poetry books & essays: “An integral musician with an immense culture” as recognized by his colleague Leo Brouwer, the well-known Ibero-American composer and guitarist.
The creative work of Albertz has been recorded in several audio productions:
- «Con Guitarra!» (2011)
- «Infancia» (2012)
- «Hommage» (2013)
- «Seasons» (2015)
- «Platero & Ich» (2016)
- «Resplendences around Bach» (2018)
- «In the Secret of the World» (2021)
- «Bunch of Strings» (2024)
Sef Albertz's compositional output is widely acclaimed as: “a milestone of good music” (Akustik Gitarre Magazine) “…modern, distinctive […] with a finely structured sound“ (PIANONews Magazine).
More Information under: www.sefalbertz.com
About the music
In the own words of Sef Albertz: "My compositional style is an amalgam of elements from different cultures, in which extra-musical influences, the rethinking of tradition and my own system of sound organisation challenge the audience without disturbing the listening experience. Everything in my life is a composition, a creative process that always brings in itself something beautiful, deep and stimulating at the same time. It’s my ‘life maxim’. So, quite consciously, I can say that I’m in a full-time occupation. Composing is my passion”.
► Take a look at «Sef Albertz's catalogue of selected works»
REVIEWS:
On 2024 Album «Bunch of Strings»
“For the world of music, the album is an enrichment - on many levels” (KulturAspekte, 2024)
On 2021 Album «In the Secret of the World» (Albertz’s Piano works II)
“A beautiful mixture of different influences. In a way, a very modern but still very familiar sounding album full of musical discoveries” (Feuilletöne, 2021)
On 2018 Album «Resplendences around Bach» (Albertz’s Piano works I)
“...a skillful dramaturgical connection to a fascinating musical world, a delightful combination of progressive and traditional elements [...] southern temperament and profundity” (MDR Press, 2019)
On Sef Albertz's compositional style
“Sef gathers that vast spectrum of the human spirit that allows, in Art, to confront and fraternize tradition with the audacious of contemporaneity to create a cosmopolitan vision of Venezuelan identity” (Maestro Alirio Díaz, Venezuelan Musician)
High praise for Sef Albertz's transcultural concept
The new evening-length piano cycle by our composer Sef Albertz «Some Enlightened Alleys» has been highly praised by audiences, press and renowned insiders alike.
The pianist and Universal Edition musical ambassador Anna-Maria Maak has conceived together with the Venezuelan-German musician an interdisciplinary concept - the SEA project - which represents a new way of the piano recital combining music, theatrical actions, texts and electronic sounds: A sea of ideas and expressions where the audience can immerse into the artistic phenomenon of music in a stimulating, accessible and novel way. It is a transcultural approach to the compositional process.
Thus, one of the leading figures in the study of transculturality in the German-speaking world, the philosopher Prof. Wolfgang Welsch, has commented:
“Transculturality takes place in two ways. On the one hand (the prime example of migration), it results from a person moving from one culture to another and henceforth integrating elements of both. On the other hand, transculturation is achieved entirely without migration, when elements of other cultures are acquired through an educational process and henceforth shape the identity of the person concerned. The composer Sef Albertz embodies both aspects in his musical work. He grew up in Venezuela, came to Germany and combines Latin American and European inspirations in his compositions (Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, but also the musical traditions of Andalusia and Spain). And what I particularly admire: when he moves transculturally, it has nothing to do with appropriation (which is regarded as dubious today), but is about enrichment, complementarity and coming together. In Berlin, I was able to attend a piano recital (performed by the wonderful Anna-Maria Maak), where highly exciting transcultural wanderings could be experienced. I look forward to his next concert with great anticipation”.
Since mid-September 2024, Anna-Maria Maak has been on tour presenting Albertz’s work in cities such as Berlin, Schkeuditz, Hamburg, Leipzig and Vienna. Regarding the premiere of the cycle, MDR Kultur has also reviewed:
"[...] Transforming serious music into something enjoyable is the speciality of Anna-Maria Maak and Sef Albertz [...] The music is everything at once: philosophical and poetic, sophisticated and simple, thoughtful and passionate. It draws from the full source".
The publication of «Some Enlightened Alleys» score coincided with the piano recital that Universal Edition organised on November 22nd at 7 p.m. in the Bösendorfer Salon at the Musikverein in Vienna.
Anna-Maria Maak’s concert was preceded by a lecture at 5 p.m., in UE’s Emil Hertzka Salon (also at the Musikverein), in which the pianist herself talked about the transcultural aspect of Sef Albertz’s creative work.
A video teaser of Maak & Albertz's project can be found here:
