Georg Hajdu

Georg Hajdu (b. 21 Jun 1960, Göttingen) is a German microtonal composer and researcher, software developer, and professor of multimedia composition and music theory at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (since April 2002). Hajdu is well-known for his explorations in alternative tunings, particularly 17-tone equal temperaments and the Bohlen-Pierce scale — both in theoretical study and compositional work. He invented Quintet.net, an interactive networked multimedia performance environment for Mac OS X and Windows. Hajdu was born in a family of Hungarian immigrants and grew up in Cologne. He obtained a degree in composition at the Musikhochschule Köln after studying under Georg Kröll, Johannes G. Fritsch, Krzysztof Meyer and Clarence Barlow. Georg also frequently attended György Ligeti's seminars in Hamburg. In 1990, on the German Academic Exchange Service's stipend, Georg Hajdu enrolled in the graduate program at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1994, Hajdu earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, following advanced studies under Jorge Mario Liderman, Andrew Imbrie and David Wessel and in close conjunction with the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT). Georg Hajdu first discovered microtonal scales in 1987 and has written several compositions in 17-tone equal temperament, including Klangmoraste (1990) for chamber orchestra and two works for MIDI instruments and a computer: Heptadecatonic Drops (1989/90) and Two Cartoons (89/92). In 1996, Georg, with his wife, pianist Jennifer Hymer, co-founded Ensemble Wire Works, specializing in mixed-media performances. In 1999, Hajdu composed Re: Guitar for microtonal guitar and produced his critically-acclaimed opera Der Sprung (Beschreibung Einer Oper) with libretto by Thomas Brasch. In 2000, Georg began developing "Quintet.net", his interactive environment programmed in Max/MSP, which allows up to five performers to play music over the network connection under the same "Conductor." In February 2002, Hajdu used Quintet.net to perform John Cage's "Five" (1988) with Zoro Babel, Sascha Lino Lemke, Julia Schölzel and Manfred Stahnke at Fröttmaning, Munich. He later adopted another of Cage's classics, "Radio Music," for a network ensemble. In 2010, he was a visiting professor at Northeastern University and Goethe-Institut's artist-in-residence in Boston, MA.