Volker Heyn

Volker Heyn (*1938 in Karlsruhe) emigrated to Australia in 1959. There he acquired a tape machine and experimented with the so-called »hard and soft edges of reverberating metal« as an observation of unpredictable both non-lyrical and poetic aspects of random sound events. In 1960–63 he studied at Sawitzkys Actors School in Melbourne and was a member of a touring theater company. 1966–71 followed guitar studies with Antonio Losada in Sydney, and he studied music theory with Don Andrews at the Sydney Conservatory. In 1972 Volker Heyn returned to Europe and studied guitar in Karlsruhe with Mario Sicca and composition with Werner Eugen Velte, in whose group for creative music he became a member. Since 1979 he has been a freelance composer. He has received grants from the Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, the Heinrich Strobel Stiftung des SWF, the Rolf Liebermann and the Körber Stiftung, and the Musikfonds Neustart Kultur, among others. His works have been premiered at numerous festivals for new music.