Vinko Globokar


Vinko Globokar is a French-Slovenian avant-garde composer and trombonist.
Globokar's work is noted for its use of unconventional and extended techniques, closely allying him to contemporaries Salvatore Sciarrino and Helmut Lachenmann. His music places great emphasis on spontaneity and creativity, and, unlike the work of Sciarrino and Lachenmann, often requires improvisation. His extensive output is largely unknown outside of experimental music circles.
As a trombonist, he has premiered works by Luciano Berio, Mauricio Kagel, René Leibowitz, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Toru Takemitsu, as well as his own compositions.

Biography

Globokar was born in Anderny, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. In 1947 he moved to Yugoslavia, where he attended DIC in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Here, he played jazz trombone until 1955, at which point he moved to Paris to study at the Conservatoire de Paris. At the Conservatoire, he studied composition with René Leibowitz and trombone with André Lafosse. In 1965, he moved to Berlin and began composition lessons with Luciano Berio, whose Sequenza V he later performed.
In the later 1960s he worked with Karlheinz Stockhausen on some of his compositions from the cycle Aus den sieben Tagen, and co-founded the free improvisation group New Phonic Art. From 1967 to 1976 he taught composition at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. In 1974, he joined IRCAM as the director of instrumental and vocal research, a job which he occupied until 1980.
He has conducted his compositions with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, and Westdeutscher Rundfunk. From 1983 until 1999, he directed 20th-century music with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in Florence.
In 2002, Globokar was bestowed with the Prešeren Award for lifetime achievement.

Musical style

Globokar's music is notable for its spontaneity, energy, and innovative use of unorthodox instrumental and compositional techniques. His works often feature indeterminacy and improvisation, reflecting his own background in Jazz and free improvisation. His pieces employ a variety of extended techniques. For example, in his solo percussion piece Toucher, the performer narrates a story while simultaneously playing the syllabic patterns on a percussion array.

Works (selection)

Stage works