Marcus Schmickler
Studio Piethopraxis

Vita

Marcus Schmickler works in contemporary and electronic composition, combining computer-based and instrumental music with a research-oriented approach. His multichannel works have been performed on international stages and explore the formalization of psychoacoustic and perceptual phenomena such as Shepard tones and data sonification. Schmickler writes on topics related to computer music and has received several awards, including the Rome Prize of the German Academy. He has taught at Bard College, CalArts, the Robert Schumann Hochschule, and the IEM in Graz. His compositions have been performed internationally by renowned ensembles. He lives in Cologne and Vienna.

CVWorks

Calendar

08.10.26 › Graz, @Musikprotokoll Takten von Masse (Studies in Timing Spectra), Premiere
28.11.26 › Vienna, @WienModern, Lahniger Tief for Black Page Orchestra, Premiere

14.04.27 › Paris, @ GRM - Focus
Centquatre
16.10.27 › Essen, @NOW! Festival, Philharmonie x Folkwang

Archive

Takten von Masse (Studies in Timin Spectra)

Takten von Masse (Studies in Timing Spectra) is a prismatic decomposition of time and a study in minimal frequency differences. It takes as its starting point two different models from particle physics that predict slightly different mass spectra for the same particles — like two bells cast from different materials that sound almost, but not exactly, alike. Sound and electromagnetic phenomena converge at one crucial point in physics: both are oscillations, both possess spectra, and their description follows the same mathematical structures. The piece exploits this coincidence to transpose quantum- mechanical models into acoustic situations: resonating bodies whose eigenfrequencies map the mass states of the particles; sound fields that glide between the two theories; rhythms in which the spectrum becomes a temporal distribution. What sounds is the attempt to translate information from a world of spectral structure into the sensory domain in which humans perceive spectra most differentially: sound.

The Great Wayfinders (Höhlenmusik)

The Great Wayfinders I–IX (Cave Music) explores the meaning of digitality through the lens of cave research—casting a speculative gaze from the future back onto our present. Schmickler and Berresheim imagine that we are only at the dawn of a new epoch: the digital age. Centuries from now, today’s beginnings may appear as the “digital Stone Age,” awkward and archaic in hindsight.

Glockenbuch IV (Spectre Maria dei Carmini)

Glockenbuch IV is an immersive electroacoustic composition featuring original recordings and immaginary bell-towers originating from Venice, composed for La Biennale di Venezia. The work showcases original methods in analysis/resynthesis, statistical calculations of bell sounds, affording listeners an immersive auditory experience characterized by nuanced movement and doppler effect perception. Moreover, the incorporation of light into the performance establishes an evocative and conceptual synergy between technological elements and contemporary musical composition. The premiere of this work unfolded within the ambit of a 40-channel 3-D audio system."

Rave in the Style of G.M. Koenig

Solo exhibition at JUBG Gallery in Coloigne based on Realtime Autoencoders trained on Schmickler’s own music.

Richters Patterns

A collaboration with painter Gerhard Richter and Ensemble Musikfabrik and director Corinna Belz.