Biography — Simon Kanzler

Simon Kanzler is a composer and laptop improviser based in New York.

He has a diverse musical background both as a composer and as an improviser, working with a broad range of musicians including new music ensembles, jazz bands, improvisers, heavy metal and rock musicians. He has recently focused on live-electronics as a means to expand the sound of acoustic instruments and to create a dialogue between musicians and the computer. For this, he has created his own software environment for improvisation and interactive performance in Max/MSP. In his compositional work, he has a strong interest in rhythm driven algorithmic processes that produce a pulsating physicality that is combined with carefully designed timbral combinations of instruments and electronics.

He is the Co-Founder, Co-Artistic and Technical director of the New York-based ensemble PinkNoise, with whom he performs on his live-computer instrument and has worked in close collaboration on many projects. His music has also been performed by new music groups such as the S.E.M. Ensemble, Tedarim Ensemble, ensemble mosaik and the modern art ensemble.

In 2022/23, he attended the IRCAM Cursus Program on Composition and Computer Music in Paris where he realized a piece for percussion and interactive electronics in collaboration with Corentin Marillier. He has studied composition with Mauro Lanza at the UdK Berlin from 2015 to 2017 and vibraphone performance with David Friedman at the Jazz-Institute Berlin from 2009 to 2013. Computer music has become his primary research focus since 2018 and is now an essential ingredient in all of his work, for which he creates his own software tools.

Kanzler is the founder of the KIM collective Berlin that organizes a yearly festival for experimental music, the KIM Fest in Berlin. The collective has recently cooperated with the Jazzfest Berlin, for which Kanzler created a multichannel sound-installation in 2018 and participated in the creation of “Mass of Hyphae” a fungus opera, that was performed at the Jazzfest Berlin 2019.
He has released four albums of his band projects Talking Hands, Double Identity and Nodía Es on the labels Unit records and WhyPlayJazz. His most recent album Nodía Es combines a heavy metal band and a vocal ensemble and was produced at the rbb studios in Berlin and released in 2020.

Biography — Simon Kanzler Simon Kanzler is a composer and laptop improviser based in New York. He has a diverse musical background both as a composer and as an improviser, working with a broad range of musicians including new music ensembles, jazz bands, improvisers, heavy metal and rock musicians. He has recently focused on live-electronics as a means to expand the sound of acoustic instruments and to create a dialogue between musicians and the computer. For this, he has created his own software environment for improvisation and interactive performance in Max/MSP. In his compositional work, he has a strong interest in rhythm driven algorithmic processes that produce a pulsating physicality that is combined with carefully designed timbral combinations of instruments and electronics. He is the Co-Founder, Co-Artistic and Technical director of the New York-based ensemble PinkNoise, with whom he performs on his live-computer instrument and has worked in close collaboration on many projects. His music has also been performed by new music groups such as the S.E.M. Ensemble, Tedarim Ensemble, ensemble mosaik and the modern art ensemble. In 2022/23, he attended the IRCAM Cursus Program on Composition and Computer Music in Paris where he realized a piece for percussion and interactive electronics in collaboration with Corentin Marillier. He has studied composition with Mauro Lanza at the UdK Berlin from 2015 to 2017 and vibraphone performance with David Friedman at the Jazz-Institute Berlin from 2009 to 2013. Computer music has become his primary research focus since 2018 and is now an essential ingredient in all of his work, for which he creates his own software tools. Kanzler is the founder of the KIM collective Berlin that organizes a yearly festival for experimental music, the KIM Fest in Berlin. The collective has recently cooperated with the Jazzfest Berlin, for which Kanzler created a multichannel sound-installation in 2018 and participated in the creation of “Mass of Hyphae” a fungus opera, that was performed at the Jazzfest Berlin 2019. He has released four albums of his band projects Talking Hands, Double Identity and Nodía Es on the labels Unit records and WhyPlayJazz. His most recent album Nodía Es combines a heavy metal band and a vocal ensemble and was produced at the rbb studios in Berlin and released in 2020.