KASPER T. TOEPLITZ

Alias: DARK MATTER

avant jazz / musique concrete / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / acousmatic / minimalism / avant-garde / electroacoustic / sound art / experimental / conceptual art / drone music

Composer, electric bass player and musician who has developed his work in the no man's land between "academic" composition (orchestra, ensembles, opera) and electronic "new music" or "noise music". Has won several prizes and distinctions ; 1st prize for orchestral composition at the Besançon Festival, 1st prize at the "Opéra autrement / centre Acanthes" competition, Villa Médicis Hors les Murs (New York), grant Leonardo da Vinci (San Francisco) , Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto), DAAD (Berlin). Got numerous commissions from the French Governement, the radio and from electronic studios such as Ircam, GRM , GMEM, CRFMW, EMS.. Works with experimental or unclassifiable musicians such as Zbigniew Karkowski, Tetsuo Furudate, Dror Feiler, Art Zoyd, Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Ulrich Krieger, Stevie Wishart, Z'ev, others…….. Some of his long-term groups or projects are LE DEPEUPLEUR (with Zbigniew Karkowski), KERNEL (a trio of computer players), Basstaarang (with Philippe Foch playing taarang), Ephémérides (bass & image by Strom Varx) Has definitively integrated the computer into the very heart of his work, as a tool of thought and composition, and as a live instrument, hybridising more traditional instruments if necessary, or working on the sheer electronic noise.