Biography
Werder was born in Berlin, Germany as Felix Bischofswerder, the son of the composer Boaz Bischofswerder. He studied Fine Arts and Architecture in London before arriving in Australia in 1940 on the HMT Dunera, along with his father, leaving Germany because of their Jewish heritage. They were interned at a camp in Tatura, Victoria during World War II. In 1943, he wrote his first symphony. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Werder wrote seven operas, which were popularly received. His opera Private was commissioned for television by the ABC and was broadcast in 1969. He also wrote works for Deutsche Oper Berlin and Opera Australia among others.
Werder lived in Melbourne and his teaching included influential courses in electronic music and sound synthesis. He became a Member of the Order of Australia in 1976 and received the Stamitz Performance Prize (1984), the Australia Council Fellowship (1986), and the Arts Guild of Germany Composition Prize and the Stamitz Prize in 1988, and an honorary doctorate in Music from the University of Melbourne.
He formed the performance ensemble Australia Felix, which toured Europe, and included Bruce Clarke, Merlyn Quaife, Brian Brown, Alex Grieve, Judy Easton, Tony Conolan, Kevin Makin and Peter Clinch. For many years, during the 1960s and 1970s, he wrote music criticism for the Melbourne newspaper The Age.
On 24 February 2012 a concert was held at the Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne, to celebrate Werder's 90th birthday. The concert included the premiere of three new works: "Ill-Tempered Clavier" (2009), "Dice" (2010)" (both performed by Michael Kieran Harvey; "H Factor" (performed by the Silo String Quartet), a work that Werder said would be his final composition; Percussionist Eugene Ughetti performed "Quinney on the Roof" and "Recipe for Disaster"; Warren Burt presented a digital restoration of Werder's 4-speaker piece for analogue synthesizer "The Tempest", originally recorded and released in 1974.
Felix Werder died on 3 May 2012. He was aged 90.
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