As a chance would have it, the young composer was asked at very short notice to replace the ailing J.B. Hilber, who had been commissioned as the official composer for the Swiss Music Festival in 1948. The premiere of Huber’s piece (“Frau Musica”) made his name known throughout Switzerland overnight. After then he composed over 400 works, including chamber music, organ pieces, music for wind ensembles, an opera, as well as over 200 choral works, both sacred and secular. Huber has received numerous prizes and honors for his compositions, e.g. the Culture Award of the City of St. Gallen in 1982.

In addition to his activities as a conductor (choirs, wind ensembles and orchestras), Paul Huber has been active as a voice and piano teacher in St. Gallen.

“My most expansive and, to me, most important compositions are sacred in nature. I consider my ‘oeuvre’ as a whole as an unending sign of thanks to the bestower of these talents.” Paul Huber also hopes his music might serve others with its intrinsically devotional character. Huber’s compositions employ a late post-romantic style as well as elements from Swiss folk music. It is a graphic, dramatic musical language that can be understood by a wide audience.

by Katrin Dubach, Stans

English version by Mark Manion, Bösingen