Mathis B. Nitschke, extended biography
version 10.4.2007
Mathis B. Nitschke (born 1973 in Munich, Germany, as the son of the translator for Russian literature Annelore Nitschke and the inventor and entrepreneur Christian Nitschke) is a filmmaker, composer, poet, sound designer and guitar player.
He studied at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium München (classical guitar), the Akademie der bildenden Künste München (sculpture) and the Koninklijke Konservatorium Den Haag (Music composition and Image and sound), where he also graduated. His teachers include Gilius van Bergeijk, Richard Ayres, Clarence Barlow, Horst Rickels, Paul Koek and Gustavo Beytelmann. He currently studies at the European Graduate School (EGS) philosophy of media and communication, where he got the chance to study, among others, with Heiner Goebbels, DJ Spooky, Jean-Luc Nancy and Paul Virilio.
His body of work is comprised of films and videos, film performances, music and epic and essayistic literature and was presented in Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, France and Poland, on festivals like Adevantgarde (München), November Music (Den Bosch), Electrolune (Lunel), in Huis Marseille (Amsterdam) and in the Gallery Nusser & Baumgart (München).
He wrote music for theatre and film and organized concert and performance happenings ('Zeltmusik', Theaterzelt Das Schloss, 1997; 'Faust', Pathos Transport Theater, 1996; 'A serenade in Villa Ockenburgh', Den Haag, 2005).
His recent audio-visual work includes:
'All about me', a 19min filmic poem about the feeling of guilt when desiring pornographic images.
'The Parade', a miniature object theatre performance in which toys are moved by the improvised music of a double-bass player.
'Leftovers', an audio-visual concert performance for ensemble and projectionist.
'El Bazar', a theatrical performance for singer, Tango trio and 16mm projections about emigration/immigration, leaving/arriving, nostalgia and the origins of Argentinian Tango.
He produced two CDs: 'Dream Machine Dream', 1998 (conceptional electronic and concrete music) and 'Komposition', 2004 (orchestral, tango-esque and electronic music).
For Michel Houellebecq's own cinematic adaptation of his latest novel "The possibility of an island" he is composing the film music. Expected completion: January 2008
As a sound designer for film, TV and advertising he was responsible for the supervising editing of, among others, 'Die Freunde der Freunde' (Dominik Graf), 'Schwabenkinder' (Jo Baier) and 'Leo und Claire' (Joseph Vilsmaier). He was hired for special sound designs for 'Resident Evil' (Paul Anderson) and 'Auf Herz und Nieren' (Thomas Jahn). He cared for the sound of TV and radio commercials for McDonald`s, Telekom, Danone, Media Markt and Saturn Hansa, to name a few.
During his work for Mastering Studios Munich (MSM-Studios GmbH) he also got hired for doing film sound restoration work of films like 'The Robe' or 'Insignificance'.
In his guitar playing he specialized in Argentinian Tango and played with Guitarras Portenas (leader: Kay Sleking), Maria Jose Ortiz and Santiago Cimadevilla in the Netherlands, France and Germany.
He currently resides in München.
