LAKNER, YEHOSHUA

LAKNER, YEHOSHUA (1924–2003), Israeli composer. Born in Czechoslovakia, he immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1941. After living in kibbutz Merḥavyah, he moved to Tel Aviv, where he studied the piano with Frank Pelleg and composition with partos and boscovitch . Later, he studied in the United States with copland at Tanglewood, and electronic music with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne and Darmstadt. He returned to Israel in 1948 to teach at the Rubin Academy of Music, Tel Aviv. From 1963, he lived in Zurich, Switzerland, where he taught music theory at the Zurich Conservatory (1974–87). He wrote incidental music for Maria von Ostfelden's productions (1965–71) and "concrete music" for plays, including Ionesco's Chairs and Brecht's Turandot (1969). During the 1980s he began to use the computer as his main instrument, creating Audio-Visual Time Structures – musical and visual configurations which developed in   poetic forms that could be manipulated during performance. His awards include the Engel Prize (Tel Aviv, 1958), the Salomon David Steinberg Foundation music prize (Zurich and Jerusalem, 1970), and the city of Zurich's composition award (1986–87). His works include Toccata for orchestra (1958); Hexachords for orchestra (1960); the ballet Dmujoth for cello, piano, percussion, and tape (1962); Theater an der Winkelwieses for tape (1981); Tanz der Akzente, for two computers (1996); BX mit Variationen for two computers (1997); chamber music including Sonata for flute and piano (1948); Five Birthdays for piano (1965); Kreise und Signale for two pianos (1985); Alef-Beth-Gimel for piano (1991); and The Dream of Muhammad, for choir, orchestra, and electronic music (1968), commissioned by the Jerusalem Testimonium. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online; MGG2. (Uri (Erich) Toeplitz / Yohanan Boehm / Israela Stein (2nd ed.)