Martin Lorenz

Martin Lorenz was born in 1974. He studied percussion at the Conservatories of Zurich and Amsterdam and at the Conservatoire National de Région Rueil-Malmaison near Paris, his teachers being Horst Hofmann, Jan Pustjens, Marinus Komst, Peter Prommel, Gaston Sylvestre and François Bedel. His interest in music theatre led him to take part in master classes with Jean-Pierre Drouet und Georges Aperghis. Since 1999, Martin Lorenz has worked as a freelance percussionist on the contemporary and experimental music scene and has realized solo and chamber music projects with assorted partners: with Conrad Steinmann, with Sebastian Berweck, with Teodora Stepancic, the ‘ensemble für neue musik zürich’ and others. These partnerships have resulted in collaborative projects with composers such as Annesley Black, Luc Döbereiner, Edu Haubensak, Bernhard Lang, Daniel Mouthon, Virgil Moorefield, and Alfred Zimmerlin, whose works Martin Lorenz has premiered. Martin Lorenz began to use electronics to complement his arsenal of percussion instruments, and thus expanded his spectrum of expressive forms towards installation work and music on the fringes of club culture. This versatility is also characteristic of his work as a composer; his oeuvre includes solo and ensemble pieces. Furthermore, he has created a series of electronic works for his performances as a DJ, which he has published on his label Dumpf in small limited editions on vinyl records prepared by hand. Martin Lorenz is a member of the Collegium Novum Zürich. He has given concerts in Switzerland, Germany, England, Italy, China, Japan, Egypt and at the Lucerne Festival and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.