Biography
Yehoshua Lakner born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (today Slovakia)
Last moment emigration to Palestine (today Israel), together with Tuvia Rübner
Lives in Kibbuz Merchovia
Studies with Oedoen Partos, Alexander U. Boskovich and Frank Pelleg
In addition to his studies - plays piano in small jazz bands
Completes Music Academy in Tel-Aviv
Marries Zula Faingold
Teaches at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv
Birth of son Yahli
Settles in Zürich, Switzerland for the polio treatment of the son
Retires
Marries Margrit Joho
Yehoshua Lakner dies in Zürich
Film portrait about Yehoshua Lakner:
“A life with keyboard” by Nico Gutmann, unico
Composer
Teaches at Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv
Studies in USA with, among others, Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, Berkshire Music Center. Israeli delegate on the International Arts Program of the Institute of International Education
Studies at the NWDR studio for electronic music, Cologne, Germany. Works with Mauricio Kagel, Gottfried Michael Koenig and Karlheinz Stockhausen
Composes musique concrète for various stages in Zürich (Theater an der Winkelwiese, Theater am Neumarkt, Schauspielhaus)
Teaches at the Conservatory and Academy of Music in Zürich
Composes instrumental, chamber and vocal music
Creates AVTS (Audio-Visual Time-Structures), compositions for computer and screens. AVTS are his main form of composition and are performed in inland and abroad
Premiere of his AVTS magnum opus "Segante" with lyrics by Tuvia Rübner that he began to work on in 1986
Yehoshua Lakners received a number of awards, among others
- Engel award from the city of Tel-Aviv for his composition ‘Toccata for orchestra’ (1958)
- Distinction from the city of Zürich for his stage music (1969)
- Music award of the Salomon-David-Steinberg-Foundation
- City of Zürich Sabbatical for Composition(1987/88)
Alfred Zimmerlin: Booklet, in CD, Guild: GMCD7214
About his Work
Lakner’s compositions work can be subivided into the categories instrumental and vocal music,
musique concrète, and AVTS
Instrumental music
- Solo pieces for piano, bass clarinet, violin
- Chamber music for piano, flute, bass clarinet
- Music for orchestra
“Among the foreign composers to have dedicated pieces to Horak are Henri Pousseur, Sophia Gubaidulina, Anestis Logothetis, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Klaus Huber, Violeta Dinescu. Yehoshua Lakner.”
Vienna Friends of the Bass Clarinet: in: Die Bassklarinette.
45 years ago Josef Horak discovered a new solo instrument for the world of music.
Vocal music
- Nursery rhymes
- Pieces for singing
- Mohammed’s Dream for choir
The premiere was performed on the occasion of the ‘Jerusalem’ testimonium
at the Israel Festival on July 30 1968, conducted by Gary Bertini.
Musique concrète
“By this I understand compositions consisting of sounds and noises recorded on tape,
transformed, layered and played in the desired order. Composing directly with tape
seems to me to be particularly appropriate for stage music, which after all is
played on tapes, not by instrumentalists.”…
Yehoshua Lakner: Zur Bühnenmusik, in: Maria von Ostfelden – Theater als Experiment,
Verlag Lars Müller, 1996, p. 148ff, ISBN 3-907044-15-0 (bound edition),
ISBN 3-907044-16-9 (paperback)
Theater an der Winkelwiese
- 1965 Victor by Roger Vitrac
- 1966 Chairs by Eugène Ionesco
- 1867 Nestroy – Quodlibet by Johann Nestroy
- 1968 The Architect and the Emperor from Assyria by Fernando Arrabal
- 1969 The night of the murders by Jose Triana
- 1970 Jona by Martin Sorescu
Schauspielhaus Zürich
1969 Turandot or the Whitewasher’s Congress by Bertold Brecht
Theater am Neumarkt
1971 The Garden of Desires by Fernando Arrabal
AVTS
“Yehoshua Lakner’s involvement with the computer goes back to 1985. He used it to
make his ‘Audio-Visual Time-Structures”, compositions for computer sounds and monitor.
The image can simultaneously visualise a musical event, react to it as counterpoint or
even achieve autonomy. The result is a highly poetic interaction of sound and image.”…
Alfred Zimmerlin: Dissonanz no. 40, May 1994
“Concerto for monitor? Yes, the ‘moving’ graphics are part of the music,
counterpointing what is heard.” (Y.L. 1989/90)
Yehoshua Lakner:Schweizer Komponisten unserer Zeit (Swiss composers of our time),
AMADEUS, 1993, S. 237ff. ISBN 3-905049-05-8 – BP 400
The compositions are computer programs.
Started with AVTSs for one screen, later worked mainly with two screens.