Helmut Lachenmann was born 1935 and raised in Stuttgart, where he studied piano with Jürgen Uhde, as well as theory and composition with Johann Nepomuk David, from 1955 to 1958. He continued his studies in Venice with Luigi Nono, in whose home he stayed and who would have a decisive influence on his work. Lachenmann returned to Germany in 1961, and from 1963 to 1965, he took Karlheinz Stockhausen's new music course in Cologne. After a stint at the electronic music studio of the University of Ghent, he was awarded the Kulturpreis für Musik from the city of Munich in 1965. He taught at the Musikhochschule of Stuttgart (1966-1970) and then of Ludwigsburg (1970-1976) before being appointed professor of composition in Hanover (1976-1981) and then again in Stuttgart (1981-1999). In 2010, he was a guest professor at the Musikhochschule in Basel.

Lachenmann has taught composition workshops and seminars around the world, including in Darmstadt (several times since 1972), Basel (1972-1973), Brazil (1978 et 1982), Toronto (1982), Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Tokyo (1984), Blonay, (1988), Akyoshida (Japan, 1993), Viitasaari (Finland, 1998), Acanthes (France, 1999), New York (Juilliard School, 2001), and the Fromm Foundation (Harvard, 2008).

Helmut Lachenmann's music, which he calls "Klang Komposition" (sound composition) comes "both from aesthetic streamlining and a deep rejection of any type of pre-codified order. Composed of squeaking, rubbing, and crackling, it draws one mainly to reflect on sound and noise."

He holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Hanover, Dresden, and Cologne, and is a member of the Arts Academies of Berlin, Hambourg, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, and Brussels.

Awards and Honors

• Bach-Preis der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg (1972)
• Ernst von Siemens Prize (1997)
• Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2001-2002)
• Royal Philharmonic Society Award for the string quartet Grido (2004)
• Kunstpreis Berlin (2008)
• Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale (2008)
• Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music of London (2010)
• BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Music Award (2011)
• Officer of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2011)
• French Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (2012)
• GMA Deutscher Musikautorenpreis (2015)
• Hans Christian Andersen Prize (2016)