6 Questions for Lucia Birzer
An Interview
The works of conductor and composer Lucia Birzer are performed by various choirs and ensembles throughout Germany. In 2023, she won 1st prize in the FemalesFeatured competition with her composition Afterwards. In this interview, she answers our questions.
Your first composition:
I didn’t write down the first composition that I can remember, but I can still sing it today. It’s a song called If I Could Fly. I was about seven years old and made it up outside in the garden…
My first major and “official” composition was a piece for two soloists, choir, strings and big band, which was performed as the final piece at a concert at my school with all three hundred participants and me as conductor. That was ten years later.
Which other composers inspire you?
I work full-time as a conductor, so I enjoy working with almost all classical and contemporary composers. I find Lili Boulanger particularly inspiring, because she created such beautiful music in her short life, Igor Stravinsky for his colors, and in opera or music theater particularly Mozart and Verdi – you can learn simply everything from them. I also like artists from pop culture who follow their own path, such as Billie Eilish.
Your most emotional musical experience to date:
I’m not really sure. But I’ve always had the most emotional experiences as a choir singer or as a listener and not as a conductor, because you have to concentrate too much. I had a really lovely experience during a composer project with the Audi Youth Choir Academy, where I was a singer for a long time. It was very moving when my friends performed two of my compositions for the first time, including The Moon is Distant from the Sea, at an internal academy concert in a large church. As it took place during the coronavirus period, we hadn’t made music together for the longest time, so it was especially emotional.
Where do you prefer to compose?
At home on my piano.
Your current composition project:
At the moment I’m working in various directions; I’d like to write more for solo voices and take part in a few competitions too.
When you’re not composing or making music…
…I read, listen to podcasts, meet friends and do sports.
Afterwards
Soprano solo, Alto solo, Baritono solo
Coro (SSAATTBB)
Carus 9.286/00
Fire
Coro (SSAATTBB)
Carus 3.400/60
The composer Lucia Birzer studied choral conducting in Weimar, Stockholm and Munich. She was awarded first prize in the FemalesFeatured composition competition in the chamber choir category in 2023. From 2021–23 she was engaged as choir director at the Theater in Hof and she has been working as choir director and Kapellmeister at the Theater Regensburg since the beginning of the 2023–24 season.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!