Composer
Photo: R. G.
I only became a composer in the course of my musical career. But the will to be creative is taking up more and more space in my life. Similar to my paintings, my compositions are also different in style and I am fascinated by the variety of musical means of expression as well as the possibilities of using them. In the meantime, I have mainly written works for violoncello and chamber music in a wide variety of formations, but my compositions also include orchestral works. In June 2014, my saxophone quartet "Sax for four" received an award at the Carl von Ossietzky Composition Competition, in July 2014 the harpsichord piece "One Day" from "harpsichord xxi" was selected for publication in an anthology (published by Bellmann Musik in December 2014) and Christopher Redgate selected my "Concerto a tre" for oboe solo for his recital in October 2014 at the Austrian Culture Forum London's call for scores. In January 2015, the 1-minute piece "Cut off" for solo violin was selected for a concert in New York as part of the "Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame" and in September 2016, my piece "Dialogue" for cello and guitar was awarded 3rd place in the duo category of the International Timo Korhonen Composition Competition. Also in September 2016, "Mittsommer" for solo violin was selected for a concert as part of the "Vox Feminae" festival in Israel. 2018 Prizewinner of the 1st Austrian Women Composers' Competition, world premiere as part of "Wien modern".
Performances at home and abroad (Europe and USA), commissioned compositions and recordings on CDs document her compositional activity.
Composition commissions from:
MAX BRAND Ensemble
JANUS Ensemble
Cultural Department of the Province of Lower Austria
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Birgit Fluch
Rupert Bergmann
Elisabeth Pfeiffer
Maximilian Flieder
eXtracello
Karoline Renner
Kreisler Trio
Philipp Manuel Gutmann
Scholarships:
2024 Composition Scholarship of the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport
Juror at "Jugend komponiert" 2020 and 2023, at the composition competition INÖK/Allegro Vivo 2020 and 2022, at the MAX BRAND Composition Prize 2021, at the String Quartet Composition Competition of the Upper Austrian Composers' Association 2021, at the Balduin Sulzer Composition Prize 2021 and 2023 and at the Ö1 Talentebörse 2022.
Selected self-published compositions can be found at:
https://ursula.erhart-schwertmann.com/index.php/de/bestellungen
can be purchased.