Education

Born on October 8, 1958 in Geneva, Michael Jarrell studied composition at the Geneva Conservatory with Eric Gaudibert and at various workshops in the United States (Tanglewood, 1979). He completed his training with Klaus Huber at the Freiburg Staatliche Hochschule für Musik im Brisgau.

Prizes

Starting in 1982, his works have received numerous prizes: prix Acanthes (1983), Beethovenpreis from the city of Bonn (1986), Marescotti prize (1986), Gaudeamus (1988), Henriette Renié (1988), and Siemens-Förderungspreis (1990). Between 1986 and 1988, he was in residence at the Cité des Arts in Paris and took part in the computer music course at Ircam. He resided at the Villa Médicis in Rome during 1988/89, and then joined the Istituto Svizzero di Roma in 1989/90.

Career

From October 1991 to June 1993, he was composer in residence with the Lyon Orchestra. Beginning in 1993, he became professor of composition at the University in Vienna. In 1996, he was "composer in residence" at the Lucerne festival, and then was heralded by the Musica Nova Helsinki Festival, which dedicated the festival to him in 2000.
In 2001, the Salzburg Festival commissioned a concerto for piano and orchestra entitled Abschied. The same year, he was named "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres".
In 2004, he was named professor of composition at the Geneva Conservatory.

Works

On the occasion of Pierre Boulez's eighty-fifth birthday in 2010, Michael Jarrell composes La Chambre aux échos for the Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by Susanna Mälkki.
In 2012, his cello concerto Emergences (Nachlese VI) composed for Jean-Guihen Queyras, is premiered in Salt Lake City and Lyon. The same goes for Nachlese Vb - Liederzyklus for soprano and ensemble in Geneva and New-York City.