Shih (born 29 November 1950 in Taipei, Taiwan) is a naturalized Austrian composer. Shih has been living and working in Vienna since 1974. In Europe Shih forgoes his full Chinese name due to experience with incorrect writing and pronunciation.[1] However, in Taiwan he is still known by his full name Shih Chieh (Chinese 施捷).[2]
Shih studied composition and harp at the Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts, graduating in 1983.
He has been living and working in Vienna since 1974 as a freelance composer, teacher, and artistic director of the Pacific Youth Orchestra Vienna, founded in 2002.
He has been awarded special merits for regularly presenting contemporary Austrian music in China.
His own works – chamber music, ballet, lied, orchestra works, opera and oratorio – have been performed in many European und Asian countries, as well as in the United States, and regularly appear both on TV and radio (ORF, ARD, MDR, RAI etc.).
Shih's international breakthrough came with his opera „Vatermord“ ("Death of a Father"), first performed in Dresden in 1994 and followed by performances at Leipzig Oper and in Nuremberg, Erlangen, Vienna and Berlin.
Further important steps include the oratorio, „Lebend’ges Land“, in Münster; the music-installation, "Prayer", in Taiwan (on the occasion of the centennial of the Republic of China); and the open-ended cycle, „Ein Takt für...“ ("A Measure for..."), which established Shih's individual style of transforming psychical processes into music for all existing instruments, either in solo performance or in combination with others.
The music critic Dr. Christian Baier has described Shih's intentions as the "search for form as well as formal scepticism, richness of expression as well as absolute restraint and austerity. His music allows the performer rich space for free interpretation".
Shih himself explains: "My music is not traditional, but conscious of tradition. As a composer, I am part of a long tradition, and I have to deal with this tradition. Of course I can turn my back, say farewell to tradition and live wholly for the experiment. But in doing so, one soon becomes lonely – not only as a human being, but also as an artist. It is necessary to be conscious of one’s cultural-historical past to arrive at an artistic, i.e. individual present."
^Die Bühne 1998 Page 28 Austria-International Gesellschaft, Vienna - "1974 hier zum Musikstudium gelandet, ist der in Taipeh geborene Komponist Shih (auf seinen kompletten Namen verzichtete er wegen notorisch falscher Schreibung und Aussprache) längst auch österreichischer Staatsbürger geworden."
