An unorthodox juxtaposition of the seriousness of European traditions and their modern branches, popular rhythms derived from dance and jazz and an East Asian awareness for timbre and melody make up the main influences of my compositions. Here a selection:
This album, comprised of 16 pieces, presents a broad cross-section of my previous work, clearly reflecting my influences and compositional preferences: catchy pop material, abstract sounds, driving rhythmic textures, but also introverted chamber music and some nods to Asian traditions.
In this work I will process the experiences I shared with the outstanding Chinese professional musicians of the China Oriental Performing Arts Group. Unlike my suite for pipa and guitar, here I have to compose a very compressed piece in a very short form. To do this, I was inspired by a Chinese aesthetic concept: that of leaving open (Chinese: liu bai directly translated as “leaving white”), which serves as its title.
In short, it is about the artistic approach, especially when designing calligraphy and painting, of intentionally leaving appropriate empty space in order to make the entire work more harmonious and to give space for the viewer's imagination and thoughts. With this in mind, I renounced virtuosity and dense compositional techniques, chose simple harmony and melody and consciously tried to create the strongest expression with as few tones as possible.
During my time in Taiwan I came across this piece by the band Donglihuoche, who created it for the then brand new Taiwanese television drama "The Rose". I liked the melody so much that I arranged it into a kind of bossa nova.
The book has been published by Iudicium-Verlag since February 2019 and is available in all bookstores. Here you will find reading previews and detailed information. The review of the novella can be read in the eighth edition of the literary criticism.
Chinese characters have a reputation of being difficult. With these hints you'll find not so much anymore. Here a short printed version in German.
To be able to contribute this music to a project of dandelion & burdock was a real pleasure. Sweet and cute, this little Christmas greeting for 2011 was a bit more complex: some guys in London had an idea, a composer created christmasy piece, musicians met and made a recording, a baker baked cookies on which an internet address was "printed" with a specially made stamp, small biscuit jars with its own lovely screen-printed motif were made. Filled with a few cookies they were sent as a surprise to friends, family and valued customers. If they followed the address on the cookie, they came to a specially created website, where they could see this video and all recipients could leave a greeting. The surprise, secrecy, guessing and final resolution as well as the happy mails and calls were a great reward!
For the first time the magnificent chamber choir from Leipzig performs in the cathedral of Magdeburg. This new a cappella piece, which I composed during my stay in the Cité des Arts Paris, has thereby found its ideal cast: sublime and cultured choir sound meeting the extrodinary acustics of Germanies first gothic cathedral.
This duo for guitar and pipa combines East Asian tradition with the rhythmic precision of funk for the first time. The composition is designed to allow both instruments to fully unfold their full range of beauty and virtuosity. In a musically entertaining way, the suite of eight character pieces opens up a new perspective on how Chinese and European elements can be harmoniously combined musically.
The work enjoys great popularity, especially among intercultural performers, and has already received awards from various institutions, including the European Foundation for Chinese Music Research (CHIME), the Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Swiss Consulate in China.