Alexander Schubert (born 13 July 1979) is a German composer. Much of his music is experimental, involving multimedia, improvisatory, and interactive elements. [1] He draws upon free jazz, techno, and pop styles. [2] [3]
Alexander Schubert was born in Bremen. He studied Bioinformatics in Leipzig, then spent a year at the Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe at the Institute of Music and Acoustics. [4] He received a doctorate in multimedia composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, studying under Georg Hajdu and Manfred Stahnke. [5] He teaches at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, [6] directs the electronic studio at Musikhochschule Lübeck [7] and has been a visiting lecturer at Darmstadt International Summer Courses. [8] A founding member of ensembles Decoder, Trnn, Schubert-Kettlitz-Schwerdt, and Ember, he has also pursued an experimental pop music solo project under the name Sinebag. [9]
Schubert's pieces have been performed at several international institutions, including Wien Modern, [10] [11] [12] ICMC, [13] SMC, [14] Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, [15] DLF Forum neuer Musik, [16] [17] IRCAM, [18] [19] [20] ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, [21] [22] and Blurred Edges in Hamburg. [23]
Jennifer Walshe, Matthew Shlomowitz and Zubin Kanga have situated Schubert within what Walshe terms "The New Discipline" of contemporary music, alongside such composers as James Saunders and François Sarhan. [24] [25] Shlomowitz writes,
The remit of New Music has moved on and broadened out in the twenty-first century. Composers such as Joanna Bailie, Michael Beil, Johannes Kreidler and Jennifer Walshe have created work that: engages popular and everyday culture; develops historical ideas from the visual arts (e.g. conceptualism); utilises technology to create new musical instruments; combines field recordings with music to form new relationships between music and the world; and establishes a music-led interdisciplinary practice with multimedia and theatricalised works. Whilst evidently connected to each of these trends, Alexander Schubert's work is a distinctive voice within this milieu. [26]
Schubert's music makes extensive use of multimedia, including live video, internet-sourced content, lighting, and motion sensors. [27] [28] Praised by some commentators for its fusion of avant-garde and pop styles, [29] [30] immersive qualities, [31] [32] and distinctive engagement with the internet, [33] [34] Schubert's critics have found his work excessively confrontational [35] or conceptual. [36]
In 2009, Schubert won the Bourges Residency Prize, and his piece Nachtschatten (Nightshade) placed in the Canadian Electroacoustic Community "Jeu de temps" competition. [37] He won the European Conference of Promoters of New Music competition in 2012 [38] and a Giga-Hertz Production Award in 2013. [39] Wiki-Piano.Net received an honorary mention in the 2019 Prix Ars Electronica. [40]
Schubert has published articles on virtuality, post-digitality and multimedia composition. A collection of texts can be found in his book Switching Worlds.
Schubert's music draws on many influences, from the energy of punk, electronica, jazz, improvisation, live electronics, noise and electroacoustic music ... Schubert's works, such as Superimpose I (2009), Laplace Tiger (2009) and Your Fox's A Dirty Gold (2014) make extensive use of on- body sensors to allow performers to control sound, video and lighting. Although the raw, visceral musical aesthetic is very different from that of Max Mathews and Tod Machover, the underlying desire for human gestural control of electronics is the same.
Unvergessen auch die Performance fur Schlagzeug, Kontrabass und Elektronik, in der Alexander Schubert ein Sperrfeuer an Stroboskoplicht und Geraeusch entfachte. Techno-Disco Fuer Avantgardisten.
En effet, pour ceux qui méconnaissent la scène techno d'outre-Rhin, les oreilles (et les yeux) vont prendre une sacré raclée! Le problème est que le sadomasochisme implique un accord mutuel, sinon... Mais laissons de côté Mike Godwin.
Alexander Schubert (born 13 July 1979) is a German composer. Much of his music is experimental, involving multimedia, improvisatory, and interactive elements. [1] He draws upon free jazz, techno, and pop styles. [2] [3]
Alexander Schubert was born in Bremen. He studied Bioinformatics in Leipzig, then spent a year at the Center for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe at the Institute of Music and Acoustics. [4] He received a doctorate in multimedia composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, studying under Georg Hajdu and Manfred Stahnke. [5] He teaches at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, [6] directs the electronic studio at Musikhochschule Lübeck [7] and has been a visiting lecturer at Darmstadt International Summer Courses. [8] A founding member of ensembles Decoder, Trnn, Schubert-Kettlitz-Schwerdt, and Ember, he has also pursued an experimental pop music solo project under the name Sinebag. [9]
Schubert's pieces have been performed at several international institutions, including Wien Modern, [10] [11] [12] ICMC, [13] SMC, [14] Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, [15] DLF Forum neuer Musik, [16] [17] IRCAM, [18] [19] [20] ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, [21] [22] and Blurred Edges in Hamburg. [23]
Jennifer Walshe, Matthew Shlomowitz and Zubin Kanga have situated Schubert within what Walshe terms "The New Discipline" of contemporary music, alongside such composers as James Saunders and François Sarhan. [24] [25] Shlomowitz writes,
The remit of New Music has moved on and broadened out in the twenty-first century. Composers such as Joanna Bailie, Michael Beil, Johannes Kreidler and Jennifer Walshe have created work that: engages popular and everyday culture; develops historical ideas from the visual arts (e.g. conceptualism); utilises technology to create new musical instruments; combines field recordings with music to form new relationships between music and the world; and establishes a music-led interdisciplinary practice with multimedia and theatricalised works. Whilst evidently connected to each of these trends, Alexander Schubert's work is a distinctive voice within this milieu. [26]
Schubert's music makes extensive use of multimedia, including live video, internet-sourced content, lighting, and motion sensors. [27] [28] Praised by some commentators for its fusion of avant-garde and pop styles, [29] [30] immersive qualities, [31] [32] and distinctive engagement with the internet, [33] [34] Schubert's critics have found his work excessively confrontational [35] or conceptual. [36]
In 2009, Schubert won the Bourges Residency Prize, and his piece Nachtschatten (Nightshade) placed in the Canadian Electroacoustic Community "Jeu de temps" competition. [37] He won the European Conference of Promoters of New Music competition in 2012 [38] and a Giga-Hertz Production Award in 2013. [39] Wiki-Piano.Net received an honorary mention in the 2019 Prix Ars Electronica. [40]
Schubert has published articles on virtuality, post-digitality and multimedia composition. A collection of texts can be found in his book Switching Worlds.
Schubert's music draws on many influences, from the energy of punk, electronica, jazz, improvisation, live electronics, noise and electroacoustic music ... Schubert's works, such as Superimpose I (2009), Laplace Tiger (2009) and Your Fox's A Dirty Gold (2014) make extensive use of on- body sensors to allow performers to control sound, video and lighting. Although the raw, visceral musical aesthetic is very different from that of Max Mathews and Tod Machover, the underlying desire for human gestural control of electronics is the same.
Unvergessen auch die Performance fur Schlagzeug, Kontrabass und Elektronik, in der Alexander Schubert ein Sperrfeuer an Stroboskoplicht und Geraeusch entfachte. Techno-Disco Fuer Avantgardisten.
En effet, pour ceux qui méconnaissent la scène techno d'outre-Rhin, les oreilles (et les yeux) vont prendre une sacré raclée! Le problème est que le sadomasochisme implique un accord mutuel, sinon... Mais laissons de côté Mike Godwin.