Stefan Prins

Belgian Contemporary Composer and Sound Artist

After graduating as an engineer, Stefan Prins (Belgium, Kortrijk May 20th 1979) started to study fulltime piano and composition at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium, where he obtained his Masters degree in Composition with Luc Van Hove magna cum laude. Concurrently, he studied "Technology in Music" at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with Peter Swinnen, "Sonology" at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (2004-2005; The Netherlands), “Philosophy of Culture” and “Philosophy of Technology” at the University of Antwerp. In May 2017 Stefan obtained a PhD in composition at Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) under the guidance of Chaya Czernowin. As a composer he received several important awards in Belgium and abroad, such as the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis 2010 for composition (Darmstadt), a Staubach Honorarium (2009, Darmstadt), the International Impuls Composition Award (Graz, 2009), “Week of the Contemporary Music” (Gent, 2006, 2nd Prize) and “KBC Aquarius Composition Award for Young Composers” (Brussels, 2001). In 2012 the Union of Belgian Music Journalists elected him "Young Belgian Musician of the Year" and in 2014 he received the ISCM Young Composers Award. In the same year he became Laureate of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for the Sciences and Arts in the class of the Arts. In 2016 Stefan received the Kunstpreis Berlin für Musik. His compositions have been played world wide by a.o. Klangforum Wien, Nadar Ensemble, Champ d’Action, Ictus Ensemble, Nikel Ensemble, Ensemble Mosaik, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Dal Niente, Trio Accanto, Defunensemble, Athelas Sinfonietta, Zwerm Electric Guitar Quartet, Agartha, the Ensor String Quartet, Vertixe Sonora, soundinitiative, collectief reFLEXible, the Belgian Chamber Orchestra, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Frederik Croene, Matthias Koole, Tom Pauwels, Mark Knoop, Stéphane Ginsburgh, Sebastian Berweck, Gwen Rouger, Malgorzata Walentynowicz, Séverine Ballon a.o. on festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, the Darmstadt Ferienkurse (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016), Forum Neuer Musik Deutschlandfunk, Eclat Stuttgart, Ultima Festival Oslo, Festival Musica Strasbourg, Wien Modern, Ars Musica, Novembermusic, Transit Festival, Time Canvas, Musica Electronica Nova, Luzerne Festival, Tzlil Meudcan Festival, Impuls Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Musica Viva Festival (München). Together with Pieter Matthynssens, Stefan Prins is artistic director of the Belgian ensemble for contemporary music, Nadar Ensemble. Performing improvised music is an important part of Prins's musical activities. Together with Thomas Olbrechts & Joachim Devillé he was one of the founders of the long-standing collectief reFLEXible‚ an ensemble that focuses exclusively on free improvised or instant composed music, often including dance, performance, video, film, installation. Since 2011, he plays laptop in the band Ministry of Bad Decisions, together with Yaron Deutsch (e-guitar) and Brian Archinal (drums).