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blog
Dec 21BACH’s Christmas Oratorio on Mobile Devices
Written by matzerakThe DigiEnsemble Berlin exclusively uses digital devices to perform the aria “Großer Herr, o starker König” from the famous and glorious Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach. For two year now, the DigiEnsemble Berlin has explored the opportunities of mobile music. This aria, however, is a very important step in the course of the musician’s quest, due to the high qualitative aspiration and requirements of the piece.
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concert
Dec 14Smartphone Concert at the Berlin Cathedral on third Advent Sunday
Written by matzerakDuring the Sunday Church Service on the third Advent, we will perform Händels aria “Ombra Mai Fu” from the opera Xerxers, sung by the sopranist Anna Gütter. Another highlight will be our premiere of the sophisticated bass aria “Großer Herr, o starker König” by J.S. Bach from his famous Christmas Oratorio. The well-known Bariton singer Roman Trekel will support us.
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blog
Dec 06Our Digi-Christmas Song – Silent Night -
Written by matzerakThis song was composed, produced an performed on mobile devices only. But, is it possible to play a Christmas carol on smartphones – while not sounding plastic but conveying a warm Christmas mood? In the early hours of St. Nicholas Day, we finally released our holiday gift for christmas for you – the result of a musical experiment. We are proud to present our first smartphone Christmas clip: “Silent...
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blog
Nov 29The Sound of Winter
Written by matzerakWe are proud to announce that we will soon release a splendid smartphone-music version of the Christmas song “Silent Night.” The whole video will be released on Saint Nicholas Day, 6th Dec 2012. We have been preparing this special project since summer. Marc is giving you an insight into his perspective, explaining the special case of realizing “Silent Night” with the DigiEnsemble Berlin. The Sound of Winter It is...
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blog
Oct 01The Realization of a Bach Aria
Written by matzerakWe are currently working on a rather big project: the realization of the aria “Großer Herr, o starker König” from the Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach. What a glorious piece! But as you can see, we are not an ordinary orchestra – here we do not utilize conventional instruments, we play tablet PCs and smartphones. The TV program Metropolis (ARTE) visited us at an early stage rehearsal of...
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Jun 21Hard Rock: DigiEnsemble Performs “Word Up” at LinuxNacht
Written by matzerakChannelling Korn’s take on the Cameo classic, we played a hard rock version of “Word Up”on our mobile devices at the LinuxNacht in Berlin in Mai 2012. It was one of several events in the context of the LinuxTag and concentrated on networking and development of social space. We were invited as a special guest and surprised the audience with making mobile music. We played different styles, but especially...
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May 19Workshop @Vibe in Cairo with the DigiEnsemble Berlin
Written by matzerakCool, the guys from BLACKOUT STUDIOS made an awesome video from one of our workshops in cairo. Thank you! The DigiEnsemble Berlin performed at the opening ceremony of the “German Weeks 2012” in Cairo (Link). When we stayed in Cairo there we made a workshop at “Vibe for Developing Arts” to give a little insight how we are playing our mobile instruments individually. As you can see it was a...
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concert
Mar 06show at Q110 (Deutsche Bank)
Written by matzerakWe like to present you a rough live recording from our show at Q110 (Deutsche Bank) in Fabruary. Thank you very much!
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blog
Feb 18Music 2.0
Written by matzerakMatthias Krebs and his digital orchestra are trading in violins and pianos for iphones and touchpads. Link: http://www.hilker-berlin.de/en/kunst/junge-wilde/digiensemble Photo: Cora-Mae Gregorschewski ”But how does the DigiEnsemble perform? “That was the big question in 2011” says Krebs. For now, the musicians place themselves in a half circle and primarily communicate by elbowing each other. “We have a lot of ideas in the back of our heads right now. The next...
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Jan 30Aria “Ombra Mai Fu” on Mobile Devices
Written by matzerakThis video shows a performance of the famous aria “Ombra Mai Fu” in an experimental version accompanied on smartphones and tablets. The musicians´s aim is to try out how to make joint music on smartphones. The sound you hear is all played live by the musicians and their smartphones. In this case we are playing on the app-instrument “thumbjam” for iPod touch and iPad. By lifting and lowering the...
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About
DigiEnsemble Berlin – Music Making with Smartphones
Professional musicians with diverse musical backgrounds convert smartphones and tablets into musical instruments. They aim at finding a way of understanding these devices as instruments and at collectively making music with them by exploring different styles. They present their results at concerts, in videos and in articles.
Matthias Krebs founded the DigiEnsemble Berlin in 2010. The academically trained musicians of the ensemble quickly became aware of the high potentials of these common mobile devices. But this new approach asked for a new way of understanding interactive music making. In the beginning, it was not easy to coordinate the diversity of sounds and concepts. Hence, the musicians came to the agreement to start exploring their new instruments by playing existing music and existing styles. The result is the realization of musical pieces ranging from classical string orchestrations to heavy metal songs. Meanwhile, the ensemble also realized a range of own compositions and avant-garde projects.
Especially for iPhone and iPad there is a rich variety of music apps with almost endless instrumental possibilities. The ensemble requires its music to be interesting and musical – by not losing any artistic value. Furthermore, the perceptions of the musicians themselves in the group and while performing are more than interesting for the whole concept of this experiment. Consequently, the DigiEnsemble Berlin is both, a musical ensemble and a research project.
The DigiEnsemble gets highly appreciated support from the Berlin Career College of the Berlin University of the Arts.
