Alexander Schubert

Biography

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. He received a doctorate in multimedia composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, studying under Georg Hajdu and Manfred Stahnke. He teaches at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, directs the electronic studio at Musikhochschule Lübeck and has been a visiting lecturer at Darmstadt International Summer Courses. 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.

Schubert's pieces have been performed at several international institutions, including Wien Modern, ICMC, SMC, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, DLF Forum neuer Musik, IRCAM, ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and Blurred Edges in Hamburg.

Music

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. 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.

Schubert's music makes extensive use of multimedia, including live video, internet-sourced content, lighting, and motion sensors. Praised by some commentators for its fusion of avant-garde and pop styles, immersive qualities, and distinctive engagement with the internet, Schubert's critics have found his work excessively confrontational or conceptual.

In 2024, Schubert releases the album Angel Death Traps in collaboration with Copenhagen-based contemporary music ensemble NEKO3.

Accolades

In 2009, Schubert won the Bourges Residency Prize, and his piece Nachtschatten (Nightshade) placed in the Canadian Electroacoustic Community "Jeu de temps" competition. He won the European Conference of Promoters of New Music competition in 2012 and a Giga-Hertz Production Award in 2013. Wiki-Piano.Net received an honorary mention in the 2019 Prix Ars Electronica.

Writings

Schubert has published articles on virtuality, post-digitality and multimedia composition. A collection of texts can be found in his book Switching Worlds.

Compositions

Pieces with live electronics and visuals

Coryllus Avellana (2007), for 49-channel tape, clarinet and electronics (named after Corylus avellana, common hazel)

Bifurcation Fury (2012), for electric bass guitar, live electronics and lighting

Lucky Dip (2013), for midi-drumkit, keyboard, and electric guitar

Sensate Focus (2014), for electric guitar, bass clarinet, violin, percussion, live electronics and animated light

HELLO (2014), for any number of instruments, live-electronics, and video

Supramodal Parser (2015), four pieces for singer, electric guitar, saxophone, percussion, piano and electronics (with haze and lighting)

Star Me Kitten (2015), for singer, flexible ensemble, video, and electronics

SCANNERS (2013, rev. 2016), for string quintet, choreography and electronics

f1 (2016), for variable group of musicians and video

Codec Error (2017), for double bass, two percussionists, and lighting

Asterism (2020), for dancers, live-electronics, and lighting

Angel Death Traps (2024), for ensemble, live-electronics, and lighting

Interactive sensor pieces

Laplace Tiger (2009), for drum kit, arm-sensor, live electronics and live video

Weapon of Choice (2009), for violin, sensor, live electronics and live video

Bureau Del Sol (2011), for drumkit, saxophone/piano/e-guitar/clarinet and timecode-vinyl

Your Fox's A Dirty Gold (2011), for solo performer with voice, motion sensors, electric guitar and live electronics

Point Ones (2012), for small ensemble and augmented conductor

Serious Smile (2014), for sensor-equipped ensemble (piano, percussion, cello, conductor) and live electronics

Instrumental pieces with live electronics

Sugar, Maths and Whips (2011), for violin, double bass, piano, drum kit, and electronics

Bird Snapper (2012), for singer, saxophone, e-bass, e-guitar, percussion, and keyboard

Grinder (2015), for saxophone, percussion, keyboard, e-guitar, and electronics

Wavelet A (2017), for 4 electric guitars and electronics

Black Out BRD (2017), for any combination of instruments

Superimpose I (2009), for jazz quartet and electronics

Superimpose II – Night of the Living Dead (2009), for jazz quartet and electronics

Superimpose III – Infinite Jest: (2010), for e-guitar, drum kit, saxophone, and live electronics

Community pieces

Public Domain (2017), for one or more performers and/or electronics and/or video

Silent Post (2018), for any number of instruments and/or electronics and/or video

Black Out Software (2018), for any combination of instruments

Wiki-Piano.Net (2018), for piano and internet

Behind the Scenes (2019), for any combination of instruments

Tape pieces

Nachtschatten (2008)

Semaphores (2011)

Mimicry (2015)

The Password Disco (2017)

Installations

A Set of Dots (2007), interactive audiovisual installation

Some forgotten patterns (2009), audiovisual installation

Unit Cycle (2013), audiovisual installation

Solid State (2016), sound- and light-installation

Black Mirror (2016), hour-long participatory concert installation

Control (2018), 90-minute participatory concert installation

A Perfect Circle (2019), participatory "therapy session" for audience, 2 speakers, 2 assistants, and supervisor

Unity Switch (2019), interactive virtual performance installation

Video pieces

It Was not an Easy Situation (2018), video and sound

Acceptance (2018), documentary piece for solo performer

Select discography

CD

2005: Milchwolken in Teein (Ahornfelder: AH01) as Sinebag.

2005: Près de la lisière (Ahornfelder: AH02) as Sinebag.

2006: Oullh d'baham (Euphorium: EUPH 010) with Urs Leimgruber, Christian Lillinger and Oliver Schwerdt.

2010: Aurona Arona (Creative Sources/Abhornfelder: AH18) with Urs Leimgruber, Christian Lillinger and Oliver Schwerdt.

2011: plays Sinebag (Ahornfelder: AH16, 2011).

DVD

2008: Live Scenes (Euphorium Films: EUPH 011) with Urs Leimgruber, Christian Lillinger and Oliver Schwerdt.

2011:Weapon of Choice (Ahornfelder: AH21).