Friedrich Heinrich Kern

Friedrich Heinrich Kern (born March 19, 1980 in Ludwigshafen) is a German composer and pianist.
Kern began his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim where he graduated with a Diplom in Music Composition and Piano. His principal teachers included Ulrich Leyendecker and Sidney Corbett. Additionally, he spent one year studying traditional Korean music at Seoul National University. In 2007, he was a visiting composer at Wesleyan University. From 2008, Kern studied in New York with Matthias Pintscher and Louis Karchin.
He received a MacCracken Research Fellowship and now teaches at New York University. Over the past 20 years, Kern has composed and produced hundreds of new compositions and dozens of new works. He has made lauded appearances as performer and composer in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In addition to his work with electronic instruments and media, Kern has composed works for acoustic instrumentations, ranging from soloist to full orchestra. Friedrich Heinrich Kern published his dissertation, entitled An Exploration of Compositional Technique in the Operas of Kaaija Saariaho and Christian Jost, in 2016. He teaches a composition class at New York University and is based in New York City.

Projects

Recent works include Von Taufedern und Sternen for soprano and orchestra, premiered by the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany; "...pour une nuit seule", a string quartet written for the Jack Quartet, and Eins.Zwei for piano and percussion, premiered by the Either/Or Ensemble.

Selected works

Compositions

• Von Taufedern und Sternen for soprano and orchestra - 2010
• Les Adieux for two violins - 2009
• "...pour une nuit seule" for string quartet - 2009
• Eins.Zwei for piano and percussion - 2009
• Fanfare - movimiento sin progresión for brass ensemble - 2008
• Ellipses for violin and piano - 2007
• Anima II (Kern vs. Gould) for piano and quadraphone speaker system - 2007
• Almost Romance for tuba and orchestra - 2007
• Anima for Korean komungo and speaker system - 2006
• Essence - ballet music for Korea gayageum quartett and ensemble - 2006
• 5 Lieder for baritone and piano - 2005
• Keine Spuren...fixpunktlos for soprano, speaker and ensemble - 2004
• Walzer for violoncello and piano - 2004
• Nachtschatten for piano for four hands - 2002
• Impromptu for piano solo - 2007

Arrangements

• The Sleeping Beauty Arrangement of the ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for Harmoniemusik - 2009
• Hänsel und Gretel Arrangement of the opera by Engelbert Humperdinck for Harmoniemusik - 2008
• Viva Verdi! Arrangement for Harmoniemusik after themes by Giuseppe Verdi - 2003