Gerhard Stäbler was born in 1949 near Ravensburg, Germany. He studied composition and organ in Detmold and Essen. He has won many prizes and commissions, starting with the "Cornelius Cardew Memorial Prize" in 1982.
He has always been active politically as well as compositionally. He envisioned the "Aktive Musik" festivals of new music and in 1995 was the artistic director of the World Music Days of the International Society for New Music in the Ruhr area of Germany. In workshops and seminars on composition and improvisation he has worked with young musicians from many countries. He has been a composer-in-residence and guest professor in North and South America as well as in the Far and Middle East.
Stäbler's music often breaks with convention, in that he involves elements in his composition that interrupt the traditional performance situation, whether through gestures or movements in the room, lighting or the introduction of scent, or the active engagement of the public. Although his music is always thoroughly thought out, his preference for a combination of composition and improvisation is always evident.
Again and again, without obvious political influence, Stäbler causes the listener to reflect critically. In his KARAS.KRÄHEN the cry of the raven touches on possible meanings (in old myths or as the messenger of evil). His music does not exhaust itself in its rich symbolism, but rather points always to our actions in the world in which we live.
