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, electroacoustic music under Dieter Kaufmann, and double bass. At the University of Vienna he studied musicology and wrote his doctoral thesis on "Das Synthese-Denken bei Anton Webern" (1989).
From 1992 to 2016, he was the music curator of the Essl Collection http://www.essl.at/bibliogr/felber-musikkurator_e.html in Klosterneuburg, near Vienna. Between 1995 and 2006, he taught algorithmic composition at the Studio for Advanced Music & Media Technology for the Anton Bruckner Private University for Music, Drama, and Dance in Linz, Austria. As of 2007, Essl is professor of composition for electroacoustic and experimental music at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.[1]
Essl's work with computers (with emphases on algorithmic composition and generative music) and prolonged occupation with the poetics of serial music have been formative influences on his compositional thinking. Besides writing instrumental music, Karlheinz Essl also works in the field of electronic music, creating interactive realtime compositions and sound installations.
Since the early 1990s, he has developed various software environments for realtime composition which he uses for his own live performances and also in collaboration with artists from other fields, including choreographers, dancers, visual artists, and poets).[2] Essl has also carried out a number of Internet-based projects and became increasingly involved with improvisation.[3]
Essl began developing a computer-based electronic instrument called m@ze°2 in 1998. He has used it to improvise during live performances. Since 2008, he is working on Sequitur, a series of compositions for various solo instruments and live electronics. He has recently written several solo and ensemble pieces for electric guitar.
While working on commission at IRCAM in Paris (1992-1993), he was composer-in-residence at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (1990-1994). In 1997, 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. He was the 2008–2009 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)