Daniel Ott

Born in 1960 in Grub, in the Appenzell region of Switzerland.

Composer, pianist, theatermaker, author of landscape-based works.

Studied piano, established independent theater groups, and a street theater group with a stage on a wagon drawn by horses. Studied theater in Paris and London, and composition under Nicolaus A. Huber and Klaus Huber.

In particular, and this since 25 years: works as a composer, pianist, innovator in the field of new music theater, interdisciplinary and situation-related. Founded the festival »neue musik rümlingen«. Lectureship in experimental music for ten years in Berlin.

Music theater productions for, among others, Staatsoper Stuttgart; Theater Bielefeld, Donaueschinger Musiktage; and Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. Situation-based works for Expo Hannover (music in the Swiss pavilion by Peter Zumthor); MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt/Main; the Alpentöne festival in Altdorf, Switzerland; and Wasserturm Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin.

Landscape compositions for the harbor on the island of Rügen, the pilgrimage site Heilikreuz in Entlebuech, Switzerland; the Neisse River between Görlitz and Zgorzelec; the Rhine Harbor in Basel; the Elbe River near Hitzacker, and the Ruhr near Witten.

He has been a professor of composition and experimental music theater at the Berlin University of Arts since 2005, and a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts since 2015.

As of 2016 co-artistic director with Manos Tsangaris of the Munich Biennale – Festival of New Music Theater.

Manos Tsangaris

Born in 1956 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Composer, drummer, installation artist, protagonist of new music theater.

Studied under Mauricio Kagel (composition) and Christoph Caskel (percussion) at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (HfMT). Studied under Alfonso Hüppi at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Fundamentally: Research on an expanded composition term that radically places the person in the center. Examinations of the interfaces between images, sound, word, and scene – and their syntheses in a universally comprehended new music theater.

Regular performances of his works at renowned international festivals (Donaueschinger Musiktage; Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik; Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF); MusikBiennale Berlin; Venice Biennale; Ultima festival in Oslo; Tonlagen Dresden; Warsaw Autumn (Warszawska Jesień). For 25 years his installative and visual works have been shown in important galleries and museums across the globe.

Initiator of the congress Praemoderne in Cologne. Recipient of the Bernd Alois Zimmermann scholarship of the City of Cologne; the scholarship of Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart; the art award of the Berlin Academy of Arts; and an honorary guest at Villa Massimo. Instructor of trans-disciplinary composing, director of the academy project European Center for the Arts Dresden.

Lecturer at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse; professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden since 2009; a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts (director of the music department since 2013); and a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts since 2010.

As of 2016 co-artistic director with Daniel Ott of the Munich Biennale – Festival of New Music Theater.