Ernst Thoma (composer, 1953)

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Ernst Thoma in the studio, 2016

Ernst Thoma (born January 2, 1953 in Mühlehorn ) is a Swiss artist and composer . He is considered one of the pioneers of electronic music in Switzerland. He works as a media artist, composer, musician and sound designer.

Life

Ernst Thoma grew up on Lake Walen and in Glarus . From 1969 to 1973 he did an apprenticeship as a printer and a correspondence course in electronics. In his youth he began to build and play generators, filters and other musical electronic devices. From 1974 he attended the F + F School for Art and Media Design in Zurich for two years . This was followed by two years at the Basel Music Academy in the electronic studio with David Johnson (composer) .

In the 1980s followed a studio and concert activity all over Europe with various formations such as UnknownmiX (with Magda Vogel and Knut Remond) as well as performances with the artist Peter Trachsel from 1978 to 1982. He also worked with Stephan Wittwer and Gabi Delgado .

From 1995 on, Thoma set up a studio for electronic music and sound design in Stein am Rhein . In the following years he mainly took on commissioned work. Initially it was advertising, film, multi-channel sound spaces (EXPO 02) and media productions, later mainly audio works in collaboration with artists from different fields, such as the mathematician and jazz pianist Guerino Mazzola , the pianist Claudia Rüegg, the singer David Thorner, the artists Christoph Rütimann , Ugo Rondinone and Christoph Schreiber and the actor Dominique Rust.

In 1996, Thoma built a new live instrument, the "Blue Wheel Instant Composing Machine", and from 1998 onwards he was increasingly seen in concerts again.

Until the end of the 1990s, Thoma developed and built many different synthesizers and electronic equipment for musicians, studios and personal use under the TMS label .

From 2000 on, Thoma was mainly concerned with his own projects, concerts and exhibitions. In addition to the audio works, media installations and video works were also created, e.g. B. the video installation "Landscape 5" in 2004 or "Hell Fall" in 2007.

Important musical projects since 2000 have been TRANSELEC with Luigi Archetti , the CD “slants” with the Hamburg trumpeter Birgit Ulher , and compositions for the X Quartet with Raphael Camenisch, Jürg Henneberger, Daniel Buess and Aleksander Gabryś . As a musician he worked in various Christoph Gallio programs .

Ernst Thoma lives in Stein am Rhein .

Sound carrier

LPs

  • 1984 UnknownmiX
  • 1985 UnknownmiX - Loops ( recrec Music 09)
  • 1987 UnknownmiX - sliver (recrec Music 18)
  • 1989 UnknownmiX - whaba (recrec Music 27)
  • 2017 TV TOTEM 3 - (Orbeatize: ORB-09)
  • 2017 TV TOTEM 4 - (Orbeatize: ORB-08)
  • 2018 TV TOTEM 1 + 2 (Orbeatize: ORB-10)
  • 2018 Modern Tracks (Orbeatize: ORB-13)

EPs

  • 1988 UnknownmiX - SNACKS (recrec Music 22)
  • 2006 UnknownmiX - the siren (Playhouse, PLAY127)
  • 2017 UnknownmiX - Chew Some More (Lux Rec, LXRC31)

Awards

  • 1986 working year for the city of Zurich with UnknownmiX
  • 2005 Berlin grant from the Thurgau economy
  • 2016 Harvest Art Prize from Schweizer Mobiliar

literature

  • Bruno Spoerri (Ed.): Music out of nowhere - The history of electroacoustic music in Switzerland . Chronos, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-0340-1038-2 .
  • Lurker Grand (Ed.), André Tschan (Ed.): Today and after - [the Swiss underground music scene of the 80's] . Ed. Frey, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-905929-21-8 .
  • Ernst Thoma (Ill.), Alex Bänninger (Red.): Hell fall . Exhibition catalog, Berliner Kulturstipendium der Thurgauer Wirtschaft, Stettfurt 2006, ISBN 3-9523610-8-9 .
  • Dorothee Messmer (Ed.), Ernst Thoma (Ill.): Ernst Thoma - Landscapes . Exhibition catalog, Art Museum of the Canton of Thurgau, Warth 2004, DNB 972119043 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b biography of Thoma on the website of the Berliner Festspiele; accessed on August 11, 2017
  2. ↑ Dieter Langhart: Jack of all trades in all media. In: tagblatt.ch. January 18, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Thoma, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss composer and live electronics engineer
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd January 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Mühlehorn