I am very happy to have been asked to join TonArt Hamburg e.V. as a permanent member of Hamburg’s oldest (founded 1989) free improvisers collective.
My connection with the ensemble goes back to April 2008 when I recorded “Im Schlauch”, a great performance at KuBaSta, a subterrean complex of interconnected tunnels. The great showcase for immersive audio was presented at Tonmeistertagung 2008 in Leipzig.
May 2011 I realised an Ambisonics recording of Phil Corner and TonArt at Hamburger Kunsthalle and some years later I performed with TonArt as a Thereminist on the MS Stubnitz and at Künstlerhaus FAKTOR…
box full of waves #3
Looking forward to being a regular with this wonderful group of musicians 🙂
I can’t believe I did not post about this yet, but on October 12, 2024 I scored the film “Der müde Tod” together with organist Jakob Schönborn-Dietz. It was an amazing deep dive and I am sure we’ll do this again in 2025.
Here are some photos from St. Johannes Baptist in Jena…
The unavoidable “Schlepp”Large screen experienceOur nest at the organ
I had brought two Genelec 8010 monitors for stereo monitoring. We also had a subwoofer behind us plus four speakers down below for my electronics (under the gallery) and the spatial augmentation of the organ (left and right of the altar).
Some of the instruments of choice for the gig
Jakob and I watched the movie primarily on the monitor above the keyboards of the organ.
All set for projection plus synchronized live recording in the Reaper DAW
Even though the year has only just begun, I’m already looking forward to the end 😉 On Sunday, December 7th, I’ll be playing a solo program as part of the “Out of the Ordinary” series in Constance. But there are also some live performances before that. More soon…
Auch wenn das Jahr gerade erst begonnen hat freue ich mich schon jetzt auf das Ende 😉 Am Sonntag, den 07. Dezember spiele ich im Rahmen der Reihe „Out of the Ordinary“ in Konstanz ein Solo-Programm. Aber auch vorher gibt es noch einiges an Live-Auftritten. Mehr in Kürze…
I am very happy about this concert review by Peter Zimmer, published in the Thüringer Allgemeine on 10/17, 2024. Here is the translation from German…
Photo (c) Peter Zimmer
Listeners were treated to a completely new musical experience at this concert in the Kyffhäuserkreis district. American-born musician experiments with electronic instruments. How this interacts with the powerful sound of the organ.
Unfamiliar sounds with unfamiliar “instruments” could be heard in the lower church in Bad Frankenhausen. For the first time, music lovers in the Kyffhäuserkreis were confronted with the announcement “Theremin and organ”. The concert was organized by Andrew Levine and Michael von Hintzenstern.
Andrew Levine, born in New York City in 1968, received his first violin lessons at the age of six. After living in Berlin for several years, he now lives in Hamburg.
New Yorker likes to improvise with electronic sounds to the organ
Andrew has been playing the theremin since 2010, mostly in the context of free improvising configurations. Since 2021, he has been exploring the interplay of organ with theremin, modular synthesizer and continuum as part of a scholarship.
Michael von Hintzenstern (born 1956) studied organ and choir conducting, founded the “Ensemble for Intuitive Music Weimar” in 1980 and has been organist at the “Liszt Organ” in Denstedt near Weimar since 1986. In 1988, he initiated the first New Music Days in Weimar, which have been held annually ever since.
Listeners were able to look over the shoulders of musicians in the gallery
On the evening of the concert, just over 120 “curious listeners” attended this theremin event. Cantor Schildmann had already offered beforehand that people could go to the upper gallery to watch the two artists – especially the theremin player – directly at their “work”; this was widely used.
The “experimental” program consisted of 5 parts. It began with the oldest instrument under the title “Weaving cantilenas”. A cantilena is a guided, lyrical melody with mostly slow, sustained passages, whereby the course of the melody is often dictated by the teremin. Visitors were able to observe this very well. In the other parts, the audience experienced the further development of the electronically generated sounds.
The musical spectrum ranged from whispering to stormy winds
“Air” was the second part – a variation of ‘wind’ in the interplay between organ and electronics: with imagination, the various levels of wind and air could be imagined, from a gentle whisper to a violent storm.
Next, the organ took center stage – in “Organo pleno”, organ tones sounded from piano pianissimo to the abrupt conclusion at full volume to another electronic instrument In the penultimate part, “Pipe and Organ” combined a musical puzzle figure.
Finally, both artists once again demonstrated the virtuoso interplay of mechanical analog organ and electronically generated sounds. A long round of applause testified to the joy of a successful “experiment” in Bad Frankenhausen.
I am looking forward to meeting two exciting musicians, Stefan Strasser from Cologne and Karlheinz Essl from Vienna, who I got to know through my label Nachtstück Records, for the first time in person and at two concerts with projections at Centro Sociale.
On Friday the 15th Stefan and I will be playing at 21:00 / 9 PM CET: • The event on the VAMH-calendar • The event on FaceBook
On Friday the 22th I’ll be meeting Karlheinz at 21:30 / 9:30 PM CET: • The event on the VAMH-calendar • The event on FaceBook
I would be delighted if we could welcome them to Hamburg with a reasonably large and enthusiastic audience 🙂
“IP00” (IP-zero-zero) is the protection class that indicates the suitability of electrical devices for various environmental conditions. With our electronic instruments there is of course no protection against foreign bodies and contact, without which they would not even sound (with the exception of the theremin ;-), and they should please not come into contact with water!
In 2005 I recorded my first organ CD. It was with Thomas Noll at the Sophienkirche in Berlin-Mitte. We spent three wonderful days together and clicked, yet it still took 17 years for us to get back together.
This time it was with me as a fellow musician. In preparation for a concert in his series “OrganoVino” we did a test drive, resulting in two pieces: INTO THE LIGHT.
My Moog Etherwave Plus + Make Noise 0-Coast setup
The last bit of music we created together and that has not yet been released, VERSCHLUNGEN goes live on October 29, one month after Thomas’ passing.
You’ve never heard the organ like this before! A freely improvised concert on the (in 2024) 254-year-old instrument by the Gotha court organ builder Carl Christian Hoffmann, successor to Christoph Thielemann. More here and here.
Built in 1770, overhauled in 1819, 100 years before the invention of the theremin, and restored in 1994/95, the fully mechanical action and stop action allow organist Annabelle Sachse complete freedom in her playing.
From the electronic side, the Moog Theremin, voice-controlled modular synthesiser, Haken Continuum, Cracklebox, Stereo Field and the obscure Din Datin Dudero Fyral are heard. Join us on a fantastic, unheard-of and never to be experienced again sound journey to the shores of distant planets…
So don’t miss out on the opportunity and be there at 20:00 / 8 PM CET for an unforgettable experience.
After researching some working options to generate music with AI I used ExtendMusic to “extend” an improvisation of Michael von Hintzenstern (pipe organ) and me (Cracklebox).
Next I asked the latest version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT to compose a piece of music for me. Let’s just say I was not overwhelmed this time either. Thanks to Narakeet for the easily usable and good sounding AI voices.
The Theremin, a voice that seamlessly combines the registers of sub-bass and piccolo meets instruments drummed, tapped and bowed for thousands of years in the timeless space of free improvisation.
Check out the pages of the VAMH and / or join the event on FaceBook.
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