Biography
He studied composition with Sergei Balasanyan at the Moscow Conservatory (1965–1970). During these years wrote a one act opera A tale on… (Russian: Сказание про... – Skazanie pro…) after Semyon Kirsanov. Korndorf completed post-graduate studies in 1973 with his opera Feast in the Time of Plague after Alexander Pushkin. He studied conducting with Leo Ginsburg from 1967 to 1979 and taught composition and orchestration at the Conservatory from 1972 to 1991. He became a member of the Union of Composers in 1973 and later a member of the Moscow Presidium of the Soviet Composers' Union. He was a co-founder and Deputy President of the New Association for Contemporary Music (ACM).
His early works were written in a traditional academic manner until he adopted an atonal post-expressionist style. Later he turned to a kind of minimalist repetitive aesthetic already notable in his Confessiones (1979) for double bass and twelve wind instruments, and Jarilo (1981) an extensive piece for piano and tape. This line was developed in his large-scale works such as three Hymns (1987–1990), his 3rd and 4th Symphonies and an opera MR (Marina and Rainer) based on correspondence between Marina Tsvetaeva and Rainer Maria Rilke.
In 1991, Korndorf left Russia for Vancouver, Canada, where he began experimenting with electro-acoustic media. In Canada he was an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and an Associate of the Canadian League of Composers. He taught composition at the University of British Columbia towards the end of his life.
A champion of Korndorf's music, Russian conductor Alexander Lazarev, has performed and recorded most of Korndorf’s work.
Read more about this topic: Nikolai Korndorf
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