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Mar 24

Another day in the office

Hello from the huge Copenhagen cistern, where I am currently realizing Taryn Simon’s large-scale sound installation “Start Again The Lament“.

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Sep 23

Farewell, Doppelgänger

Farewell, Doppelgänger, I’m heading home. Thank you, Claus Guth, for the trust you have given me. Thank you Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch for your incredible talent and musical beauty, and again for trusting me. Thank you Park Avenue Armory for making this project possible by giving trust to Claus and Jonas.
In the end, isn’t it always about trust?

Thank you Mark Grey, Michael Levine, Urs Schönebaum, Roland Harvath, Yvonne Gebauer, Sommer Ulrickson, Constance Hoffmann and Juana Restrepo and many more for being great collaborators!

Performance photos by Monika Rittershaus.

with Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch

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Aug 23

Doppelgänger @ Armory Hall, NYC

Schubert’s “Swan Song” as music theater

World premiere Sept 22, 2023, Park Avenue Armory, New York City

with Jonas Kaufmann (Tenor) and Helmut Deutsch (Piano)

Direction Claus Guth

Set Design Michael Levine

Costume Design Constance Hoffman

Lighting Design Urs Schöenebaum

Sound Composition Mathis Nitschke

Sound Design Mark Grey

Video Design rocafilm

Movement Direction Sommer Ulrickson

Dramaturgy Yvonne Gebauer

Franz Schubert’s ” Swan Song” is a collection of songs written in 1828 – the year of the composer’s death. The starting point of our narrative is a military hospital where men stand between life and death, as if caught in a time loop. Jonas Kaufmann, one of the men, experiences an emotional journey through moments of happiness and disappointment during this stagnant time. At first, he finds comfort in memories of his lover and nature, but in the second half of the evening he sinks more and more into pain and loss, expressed in songs like the one about the “unhappy Atlas.” He encounters himself shortly before his death, in a final moment of shock and realization.

I contribute sound compositions based on Schubert’s music, which connect the songs and offer the possibility of scenic design. We have already conceived and launched the piece for a premiere in 2020. Now finally the evening is coming out and I am admittedly very excited!

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Jun 23

Inside Mphil: Spring

In 2019, Gunter Pretzel and I created a clever app that makes the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra sound virtually on a meadow behind the Munich Gasteig. As if the musicians were set up there, you walk between the musicians with your smartphone and headphones and step into the sound of the orchestra. You hear and experience the orchestra as the musicians themselves experience what’s happening, and you can choose who you want sitting next to you: the violins, the oboe, the timpani or whatever you want to hear.

4 years later, I have now built an update! You can now have the experience anywhere in the world, no matter where you are! All you need is an open-air meadow. Also, the app is now in English.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mphil.InsideMPhil01

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/inside-mphil-spring/id1463187244

You can listen to a recording of the fourth movement of the Spring Symphony by Robert Schumann, recorded with the Munich Philharmonic in March 2019 under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado. See here with what enthusiasm he tried out the app:

 

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May 23

1 sqm stopped time in the Süddeutsche Zeitung

Rarely read such beautiful lines about my work:

“What, in the midst of the monastery building yard, reminds one a bit of spruced up voting booths from the outside, holds a “square meter of stopped time” in its respective interior. Artist Mathis Nitschke has built loudspeakers into the smooth white wooden walls, allowing those who make their way into these chambers some silence upon arrival before a sound envelops them out of nowhere. The quarter note of a sound stretches by the technology to a multiple of duration and an intangible of sound.

We can go wherever we want in our world: Nowhere else will we hear and feel, as we do in this confined, embracing space, how mutable the effect of sounds is when their context is wrenched from them. It’s exciting and evocative, especially as you feel anew and differently each time you visit. And the two-dimensional unit of measurement square meter expands quite quickly into a third dimension of space and a fourth dimension of time. One leaves the place of action with the desire for one’s very own, cherished sounds that extend into eternity. Whistling, one strolls home across the nightly pavement and dreams of Arcadia there.”

(translated by deepl.com)

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/ebersberg/ebersberg-kunstverein-arkadien-festival-1.5874901

 

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May 23

1 sqm stopped time. Soon in Ebersberg

already for the third time the Ebersberger Kunstverein (near Munich) organizes the ARKADIEN-Festival from May 19th! The theme of the third edition “Brave New World” is a reference to Aldous Huxley’s novel of the same name, which sketches a dystopian future as it becomes more and more reality in the eyes of some.

I am represented with my commissioned work “1 sqm stopped time”: Closed chambers of 1 sqm footprint stand in the middle of the urban space and invite you to listen. Extremely short sounds are extended to the maximum: the fractions of a second of a gunshot become 10 minutes of music. The surprise of a fist blow turns into a consoling elegy. The moment of an explosion becomes an orchestral state of Wagnerian proportions.

http://arkadienfestival.embassy-of-arcadia.eu/

 

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Oct 22

“When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other” (Martin Crimp) at the Schauspiel Köln

About yesterday’s premiere Die deutsche Bühne writes: “With moderately used light moods (light: Michael Gööck) and sound carpets (Mathis Nitschke) images and scenes are created here that remind of beautifully oppressive atmospheres in films by David Lynch. While the woman is forced into a wedding dress, she tells of a violent dream of escape and an act of violence against an animal. Thomas Jonigk’s convincing German-language premiere production altogether creates the world of a nightmare in which nothing is clear and yet painful themes are grippingly played out.”

Visit the performances at Schauspiel Köln!

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Oct 22

Hopium Machina Vision at the Paris Mondial d’Auto 2022

For this high-end hydrogen-powered vehicle, I developed an information-driven sound concept for the user interface and an immersive sound installation for the booth at the Paris Mondial d’Auto 2022, where the unveiling of this innovative automobile caused quite a stir.

Read more here >>>

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Jul 22

The most prominent beta tester of the Planet app so far

Last weekend, when conductor Krzysztof Urbański was a guest of the Munich Philharmonic (the first time since he conducted the concert recording of the “Planets” (Gustav Holst) used in my app in February 2020), I got to show him the Planets app.

What can I say. He was deeply impressed and took so much time that he almost missed the beginning of his following concert. But then, the orchestra doesn’t start without him.

The intimacy of the sound from within the orchestra and the possibility of moving around within the orchestral sound were a completely new and exciting experience for him.

The artistic director of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Paul Müller, was also present at the appointment and was surprised and impressed by how much the experience captivated him after his initial technical panic.

For me, the encounter was a very important confirmation of my thesis that smartphones and headphones can be used to unlock valuable novel musical experiences. Indeed, here one is experiencing a complete symphonic work in its “full-length” arc. It’s a world premiere in a tech-savvy scene that, until now, has rarely gone beyond interesting and curious but brief morsels.

Now why did I write above that Urbański was the most prominent beta tester so far? Because since the update released yesterday The Planets can be experienced not only with German narration but also in English. Both language versions were recorded by the great Cologne actor Stefko Hanushevsky.

In addition to the additional language, many more locations have been added where The Planets can be experienced, in Germany besides Munich e.g. in Berlin, Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Nuremberg, Cologne or Hamburg. Internationally you can now find localizations e.g. in London, Amsterdam, New York, San Francisco and many more.

Have a look at the map on the project website, all current locations are listed there. And the plan is to add many more. Feel free to let us know if you miss a localization near you!

https://the-planets.app

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