Multiple Dimensions in Performances of Mahler’s Symphonies (MMD)

MMD-Team (Glaser, Utz, Motavasseli, 2021)

Developing Resources on the History and Analysis of Mahler Performance

Research Project 01/06/2021–31/05/2025
FWF P 34710

Research Team
Christian Utz, principal investigator

Majid Motavasseli, doctoral researcher (07/2021–03/2024)
Thomas Glaser, post-doctoral researcher (06/2021–12/2022)
Dimitrios Katharopoulos, research assistant (10/2021–07/2023)
Philipp Gaspari, student assistant (12/2022–04/2023)
Ivana Petrač, student assistant (08/2021–07/2022; 01–03/2024)

Research Board
Barbara Boisits (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften)
Federico Celestini (Universität Innsbruck)
Elaine Chew (CNRS - UMR9912/STMS Lab [IRCAM])
Rémi Mignot (IRCAM Paris)
Seth Monahan (Yale University)
Anna Stoll Knecht (Médiathèque Musicale Mahler Paris)
Sybille Werner (Médiathèque Musicale Mahler Paris)
Daniel Wolff (IRCAM Paris)

Christian Utz (principal investigator)

Christian Utz (Portrait, 2021)

Christian Utz studied composition, music theory, and musicology in Vienna and Karlsruhe. He received a doctorate degree (2000) and habilitation (2015) in musicology at the University of Vienna. Since 2004 he has been professor of music theory and music analysis at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and since 2015 private lecturer in musicology at the University of Vienna. He lead(s) several research projects funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) including A Context-Sensitive Theory of Post-Tonal Sound Organization (CTPSO, 2012–2014), Performing, Experiencing and Theorizing Augmented Listening: Interpretation and Analysis of Macroform in Cyclic Musical Works (PETAL, 2017–2020), Points of Discontinuity: Theory, Categorization, and Perception of Cadences and Openings in Post-tonal Music (PoD, 2021–2024), and Multiple Dimensions in Performances of Mahler’s Symphonies: Developing Resources on the History and Analysis of Mahler Performance (MMD, 2021–2024). Utz’s monographs include Neue Musik und Interkulturalität: Von John Cage bis Tan Dun (Beihefte zum Archiv für Musikwissneschaft 51, Steiner, 2002); Komponieren im Kontext der Globalisierung: Perspektiven für eine Musikgeschichte des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts (transcript, 2014; revised and expanded English edition: Musical Composition in the Context of Globalization. New Perspectives on Music History of the 20th and 21st Century, transcript 2021; https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839450956), and Unerhörte Klänge. Zur performativen Analyse und Wahrnehmung posttonaler Musik und ihren historischen Voraussetzungen (Studien und Materialien zur Musikwissenschaft 125, Olms 2023, https://doi.org/10.25366/2023.151). He has been co-editor among others of the Lexikon Neue Musik (Metzler and Bärenreiter, 2016; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-05624-5) and the journal of the German-speaking Society for Music Theory (ZGMTH, 2015–2020; https://doi.org/10.31751/zgmth). Utz has been member of the executive board of the German-speaking Society for Music Theory (GMTH, 2014–2018) and the International Gustav Mahler Society (since 2019, as President since 2023).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5528-8780
https://kug.academia.edu/ChristianUtz
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Utz 

Majid Motavasseli (doctoral researcher)

Majid Motavasseli (Portrait, 2021)

Majid Motavasseli studied piano at the University of Tehran, music theory and piano education at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG) and the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK). Since 2019, he has been a PhD candidate at KUG, writing his dissertation on the topic of Satzmodell- and topos-based investigations into structure, style, and interpretation in Gustav Mahler’s late works. Until 2020, he was doctoral researcher in KUG-based FWF project Performing, Experiencing and Theorizing Augmented Listening and until 2022 also research fellow in the UdK-based DFG project Gleitende Tonhöhen auf klingenden Konsonanten. His articles on musical analysis and music performance research have been published in the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie, Musik-Konzepte, and Nachrichten zur Mahler-Forschung.

Philipp Gaspari (student assistant)

Philipp Gaspari (Porträt, 2023)

Philipp Gaspari was born in Graz in 2001. From November 2016 to June 2021 he participated in the “University Course for Composition with Children and Adolescents” with Helmut Schmidinger at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (KUG). Since 2021, he has been enrolled at KUG in the Bachelor’s programme in Education in Composition and Music Theory with focus on Music Theory. In addition, he was accepted into the preparatory course for composition last year. Over the last years several of his works were performed as part of the university course and various composition workshops and competitions. Since December 2022 he has worked as a student assistant in the FWF-funded project Multiple Dimensions in Performances of Mahler’s Symphonies.

 

 

Dimitrios Katharopoulos (research assistant)

Dimitrios Katharopoulos (Porträt, 2023)

Dimitrios Katharopoulos was born in 1991 in Athens. He studied piano and music theory/style-based composition at the Thucydides Private Conservatory of Alimos and is an honours graduate of the Faculty of Music Studies of the University of Athens. From 2014 to 2019 he studied composition (diploma with honours) with Jakob Gruchmann at the Carinthian State Conservatory (now Gustav Mahler Private University for Music) and graduated in music theory from the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz in 2020 (master’s thesis: „Fremd bin ich eingezogen…“. Die musikalische Bearbeitung als eigenständige Schöpfung; advisor: Christian Utz). Katharopoulos participated in seminars and workshops held by renowned artists. His compositions have been performed in Greece, Austria, and many other countries. In the summer of 2018, he was Composer in Residence of the Dark City – K18 Festival at Krumpendorf am Wörthersee. As a music researcher, his primary interest lies in compositional processes of early and new music. Since 2019, he has regularly presented at international symposiums and conferences.

Thomas Glaser (post-doctoral researcher)

Thomas Glaser (Portrait, 2021)

Thomas Glaser studied musicology, contemporary history and comparative literature at Saarland University and Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) and earned a doctoral degree in musicology from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with a thesis on René Leibowitz’ Beethoven readings. His research was supported by research grants from the Paul Sacher Foundation Basel (2011), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2012–2015), the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (2015–2016) and the Department of Culture of the City of Vienna (2017). For his dissertation, Glaser received the Josef Krainer Dissertation Award of the Government of Styria (2019). Prior to the MMD project, Glaser was senior scientist at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (FWF-funded project Performing, Experiencing and Theorizing Augmented Listening). He regularly teaches at university level, gives papers and publishes on diverse topics in musicology. Since September 2022, he has been member of the executive board of the International Gustav Mahler Society.

Ivana Petrač (student assistant)

Ivana Petrač studies music theory and music theory and composition pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. In 2020, she obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in music theory with distinction and in March 2021 she completed her Bachelor’s Degree in music theory and composition pedagogy, also with distinction. In the winter semester of 2020/21, and the following summer semester, she received the Semester Scholarship for Foreign Students. Her Bachelor’s Thesis was awarded the “Forum of Young Authors”(Forum junger Autoren) Prize, and published in the February 2022 issue of the journal MusikTexte in a revised version under the title “Zwischen Notation, Klangvorstellung, und Klang. Eine grafische Analyse von Franck Bedrossians La Conspiration du silence (2009).” From August 2021 until July 2022 she worked as a student assistant in the FWF-funded project Multiple Dimensions in Performances of Mahler’s Symphonies.