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Philipp Maintz was born in Aachen in 1977, where he began studying composition in 1993 under Michael Reudenbach. From 1997 onwards, he pursued composition studies with Robert HP Platz at the Conservatorium in Maastricht, graduating with distinction in 2003. Further studies took him to the Centre Henri Pousseur at the Université de Liège, and to IRCAM in Paris, followed by work from 2003 to 2005 with Karlheinz Essl at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz.
Maintz has received numerous awards and scholarships: in 2005, the prestigious Sponsorship Award of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. This was followed in 2007 by a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, a 2009 fellowship from the Akademie Schloss Solitude, and, in 2010, a scholarship from the German Academy in Rome, Villa Massimo. In 2013, he served as an artist-in-residence at Château de Chambord, and in 2015 he was awarded a Villa Concordia fellowship by the Free State of Bavaria. In 2018 he was invited by the Wilhelm Kempff Cultural Foundation to Positano, and in 2024 he received a federal government fellowship at Casa Baldi in Olevano Romano.
His orchestral debut came at the Salzburg Festival in 2005, when the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra premiered his first major orchestral work heftige landschaft mit 16 bäumen. In 2010, his opera MALDOROR opened the Munich Biennale for New Music Theatre. His cello concerto upon a moment's shallow rim was premiered in 2015 by the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg with soloist Alban Gerhardt. In 2017, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, premiered his orchestral work hängende gärten at the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2019, his chamber opera THÉRÈSE was first performed at the Salzburg Easter Festival and later at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg by the Hamburg State Opera.
The 2020/21 season saw the premiere of two major works: de figuris, a concerto for organ and orchestra commissioned by BOZAR Brussels and the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège for organist László Fassang, and a newly revised piano concerto, performed by Joonas Ahonen with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. In the summer of 2022, the Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon presented his orchestral work red china green house at the Cologne Philharmonie, followed in 2024 by the premiere of der zerfall einer illusion in farbige scherben, performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under Sylvain Cambreling.
In the 2024/25 season, Philipp Maintz will be honoured as Composer in Focus by the Symphony Orchestra of his native Aachen, with four major works showcased, including a significant world premiere. A highlight of the season will be a performance of upon a moment's shallow rim featuring cellist Johannes Moser and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Markus Poschner in the German capital. Additionally, two new works will receive their premieres: jag die hunde zurück!, for six sopranos and six percussionists, performed by Christoph Sietzen, his ensemble MOTUS, and members of the WDR Radio Choir at the Cologne Philharmonie and Wien Modern; and his second string quartet maintenant. pas encore. plus jamais., performed by Quatuor Diotima at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Brucknerhaus in Linz.

photo: © paavo blåfield
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