*13 Dec 1938 Karlsruhe

Volker Heyn emigrated to Australia in 1960. Once there he kept his head above water with several part-time jobs as well as working shifts in the steel processing industry. The ‘metallic types’ of sound he experienced during this time left a deep impression on him. He began to experiment with the so-called ‘hard and soft edges of reverberating metal’ and started to observe the unpredictable non lyrical, and also poetic aspects, of random sound. His motto was "poetry in sound." 

From 1961 to 1963 he studied at the Savitzky Actor's School in Melbourne and joined a traveling theater group. In 1966 he began studying the guitar under the guidance of Antonio Losada in Sydney and as well as studying music theory with Don Andrews at the Sydney Conservatory. In 1972 he returned to Europe and continued his guitar studies at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe. His composition teacher Werner Eugene Velte invited him to become a member of the ‘Gruppe für Kreative Musik’, a group which Velte had founded. In 1975 Heyn started to compose himself.

In 1981 he received a grant from the Arts Foundation of Baden-Wuerttemberg. In 1983, he won a scholarship from the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of the SWF.

His work is often seen at various New Music festivals (including Steyrischer Herbst, Festival de La Rochelle, Festival Musica Strasbourg, the Wittener Tage for New Chamber Music, World Music Festival, Musica Viva Munich).

Volker Heyn lives as a freelance composer in Karlsruhe.

www.volker-heyn-music.de

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