Karlheinz Essl (born 15 August 1960) is an Austrian composer, performer, sound artist, improviser, and composition teacher.
Essl was born in Vienna. His studies at the University of Music in Vienna included: composition (under Friedrich Cerha), electro-acoustic music (under Dieter Kaufmann) and double bass. At the University of Vienna he studied musicology (1989 doctoral thesis on Das Synthese-Denken bei Anton Webern). In 1990-94 he was "composer in residence" at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, while in 1992-93 he worked on a commission at IRCAM in Paris. From 1992 to 2016, he was the music curator of the Essl Collection http://www.essl.at/bibliogr/felber-musikkurator_e.html in Klosterneuburg/Vienna. Between 1995–2006 he taught Algorithmic composition at the Studio for Advanced Music & Media Technology at the Anton Bruckner Private University for Music, Drama, and Dance in Linz, Austria. As of 2007, Essl is professor of composition for electro-acoustic and experimental music at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.[1]
Karlheinz Essl's work with computers (with emphasis on algorithmic composition and generative music) and a prolonged occupation with the poetics of serial music have been a formative influence on his compositional thinking. Besides writing instrumental music, Karlheinz Essl also works in the field of electronic music, interactive realtime compositions and sound installations. Since the early 1990s, he has developed various software environments for realtime composition which he uses himself for his own live performances and also in collaboration with artists from other fields (choreographers, dancers, visual artists and poets).[2]
In 1998, Essl started to develop a computer-based electronic instrument called m@ze°2 which he uses as an improviser in live performances. Since 2008, he is working on a series of compositions for various solo instruments and live electronics named Sequitur. Recently he has written several solo and ensemble pieces for electric guitar.
Since the 1990s, Karlheinz Essl carried out a number of projects for the Internet and became increasingly involved with improvisation.[3] In 1997, Karlheinz Essl was featured at the Salzburg Festival with portrait concerts and sound installations. In 2003, he was artist-in-residence of the festival musik aktuell, and in 2004 he was presented with a series of portrait concerts at the Brucknerhaus Linz. 2008–2009 he was composer-in-residence of the Belgium ensemble Champ d'Action.
interactive realtime composition for sampled sound particles
algorithmic music generator
ambient soundscape generator
generative sound file shredder
ambient sound environment based on the sound of a bell
generative sound environment based on John Cage's Fontana Mix
generative music generator in memory of Anton Webern
Wolfgang Kogert plays Karlheinz Essl's organ music (col legno 2023)
a radical re-interpretation of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations for piano and electronics, performed by Xenia Pestova-Bennett and Ed Bennett (Ergodos 2008)
free improvisations for zither and electronics, with Martin Mallaun (Nachtstück Records 2014)
Three Deconstructions on Richard Wagner (Radical Matters 2013)
music for toy instruments and electronics, performed by Isabel Ettenauer (Edition Eirelav 2013)
interpretation of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations for string trio and electronics (Preiser Records 2008)
electronic music #3 (tlhotra #23 2008) - free download from archive.org
electronic music #2 (Lotus Records 2001)
electronic music #1 (KHE 1999) - free download as mp3 from last.fm
instrumental compositions 1986–1993 (TONOS 1995)