polyphonetic poeTexts

since 1992, linguistic aspects have significantly informed my art. spoken language becomes the musical medium: self-authored multilingual texts, phonetic structures, articulation gestures, and the treatment of speech as sound material.

my emphasis is on perception, on acoustic and psychoacoustic phenomena, on possibilities and impossibilities of communication. i frequently collaborate with experimental poets, some of these are florian neuner, mathias traxler and tone avenstroup, as well as many more.

field recording is part of this practice. for the cycle SprachProben (2001–03), supported by the forschungspreis nrw, i recorded speakers of arbëresh in southern italy and of istro-romanian in žejane, istria, together with the ethnobiologist andrea pieroni. the same fieldwork produced three co-authored papers in ethnobotanical journals.

a three-month residency at atelier galata istanbul (kunststiftung nrw, 2023) resulted in three distinct works: the radiophonic composition yollar – diller for hr2-kultur, the visual music piece İST – polyphonetic poeTexts, and an artist's booklet published by kunststiftung nrw in 2024.

works for voice & language

• 2025merzbus, -a, -um – mit much schmerz, polyphonetic poeTexts for three voices, 15′25. premiere 26.9.2025, festival fragment, kristiansand, sprechbohrer.
• 2025qarreler, praktigüeß, polyphonetic poeTexts for solo voice, 20′29. artist’s book, verlag klingental, basel; premiere 27.6.2025, basel, harald muenz, voice.
• 2025dreizehn liebesfuesze, polyphonetic poeTexts.
• 2024İST – poesie polifonetiche, artist’s book published by kunststiftung nrw in its series “residency workbooks” for the artist residency atelier galata istanbul.
• 2021normal.zustand for ten voices, text by the composer, 11′30. for auditivvokal dresden, written during a fellowship at künstlerhof schreyahn.
• 2021» phersu « [ˈpʰeɾsu], melodrammetto per soprano e pianoforte, 8′30. commissioned by klang köln e.v. and kulturamt köln, premiere 15.12.2021, loft köln; anna herbst, stefan thomas.
• 2019[fundaˈmen defiˈnit] for ten voices, texts from the german constitutional law and the eu charter of fundamental rights, 11′. commissioned by auditivvokal dresden, cond. olaf katzer; premiere 13.9.2019, kreuzkirche hannover; recording deutschlandfunk kultur, 9.11.2019, kulturpalast dresden.
• 2019Comme vous savez … for five masked vocalists, 10′30. stationen iv – stimmen aus nrw, premiere 29.3.2019, oetker-halle bielefeld.
• 2017sprech-sage-rede-raum for four spatially distributed groups of speakers and tape. commissioned by kölner musiknacht 2017, premiere at oberlandesgericht köln.
• 2017des volkes weise. ein spottchor for mixed choir, 2′15. commissioned by auditivvokal dresden for vox populi, premiere 15.9.2017, orchesterzentrum nrw, dortmund.
• 2016Das kleine Da-da-da for three phonetic voices, 6′30. premiere 21.6.2016, sprengel museum hannover, sprechbohrer.
• 2007–16Das Zungenbuch, cycle in five movements for three phonetic voices, texts by the composer, florian neuner, christian filips, monika rinck. premieres 2007–2016 in cologne and berlin, sprechbohrer and members of the singakademie berlin.
• 2014allo studio con Nicola for mezzo-soprano, viola, bass clarinet ad libitum and microtonal keyboard, 4′30. commissioned by trio scordatura, premiere 1.10.2014, orpheus instituut ghent; dutch premiere 29.11.2015, muziekgebouw amsterdam.
• 2011/12stein-sum for mezzo-soprano, viola d’amore and microtonal keyboard, text after gertrude stein. premiere 1.2.2013, kampnagel hamburg, trio scordatura.
• 2004 / 2026gedankendzüge – ein polyphonetischer poeText, printed in neue zeitschrift für musik 3/2026, mainz (schott), p. 39.
• 2001–03SprachProben. Ästhetisch-phonetische Feldnotizen for vocalists, instruments and electronic sounds, ten combinable pieces based on the composer’s own fieldwork on arbëresh and istro-romanian. supported by the forschungspreis nrw; premiere 2003, kunst-station sankt peter köln, broadcast by wdr 3.
• 2001il filosofo for soprano, clarinet, trumpet and percussion. commissioned by ensemble freon, rome, german-italian exchange sixpack.
• 1996parkfiguren for singing and speaking voice, text: róža domašcyna. commissioned by deutschlandradio berlin.
• 1995discAntico for eight voices, texts by francis of assisi and andrea pieroni. selected at the competition praxis der neuen vokalmusik, stuttgart 1996.
• 1993 / 2026deChiffrAGE for speaker with random-controlled live text generator, software by the composer; versions for two (de[ux]ChiffrAGE) and three speakers (d(r)e(i)ChiffrAGE, 2017 at festival acht brücken köln, sprechbohrer); new version 2026 for mobile devices on all platforms.