Michael J. Shumacher (Washington
DC, 1961)
Composer, performer, and installation
artist Michael J. Schumacher works predominantly with electronic
and digital media, specializing in computer generated sound environments
that evolve continuously for long time periods. In their realization,
Schumacher uses multiple speaker configurations that relate the
sounds of the installation to the architecture of the exhibition
space. Architectural and acoustical considerations thereby become
basic structural elements.
Schumacher’s sound installations
have been heard at Art in General, Apex Art, PS 1, the Queens
Museum, The Kitchen and Sculpture Center in New York City, CCNOA
in Brussels, the Technical University and Podewil in Berlin, the
Museum for Applied Arts in Frankfurt, the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Lyon, Triskel Arts Center in Cork, Ireland, Transmissions
Festival in Chicago, SFIFEM in Sante Fe, the Waveform Festival
in Sydney, Via 7 Festival in Paris, )toon) Festival in Haarlem,
and others. Schumacher’s composition “Grid”,
a computer generated score that unfolds in real time, has been
in exhibitions in New York, Barcelona and Houston. His “Living
Room Pieces” is permanently installed in an apartment at
the Chelsea Hotel, and runs 24 hours/day, continuously generating
new forms.
Schumacher has published six solo CDs, a duo CD with Donald Miller,
and an LP with Miller and Charles Curtis. He is on the Sub Rosa
anthology of noise and electronic music and the lower case 2002
compilation, as well as on an LP of remixes of music by Oren Ambarchi
on the Staubgold label. Schumacher’s CD "Room Pieces",
on the XI label, was rated best of 2003 for “modern composition”
by The Wire magazine. XI Records has recently published a set
of five sound installations as computer applications, playable
on up to eight speakers, which may be installed on a computer
to create sound environments in the home.
Along with Nisi Jacobs, Schumacher is the founder of DRAW, an
audio-video performance group. Joined by Tim Keiper, Alex Waterman,
Bruce Andrews and others, they create immersive live sets based
on collaborative compositions. DRAW’s website is http://drawnyc.com.
Schumacher has lectured at Bard College, The New School, The School
for Visual Arts, and Juilliard. He has taught electronic music,
piano, composition, theory and ear training since 1983. He currently
teaches at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, NY.
Education
1988 Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition, The Juilliard School, New York
1985 Master of Musical Arts in Composition, The Juilliard School, New York
1982 Bachelor of Music in Composition, Indiana University, Bloomington
Selected Sound Installations
2010 Room Pieces Troy 2010, 14 “zone” sound installation for the lobby of RPI’s EMPAC center to open May 1 and run 24/7 for 1 year
2009 Room Piece Ostrava 2009, 16 channel sound installation, Ostrava Music Days Festival, Czech Republic
2009 Troubled, 12 channel sound installation, RADAR Festival, Mexico City
2008 nintending, 12 channel sound installation, Sonic City Festival, Mons, Belgium
2008 Glacier, 8 channel sound installation, Diapason, NYC
2007 Living Room Pieces Singuhr 2007, 12 channel continuous sound installation in a hotel in Prenzlauerberg, Berlin, presented by Singuhr Gallery
2007 Room Piece Berlin 2007, 10 channel sound installation, Transmediale Festival at Tesla, Berlin, Germany
2006 iving Room Pieces New York 2006, 12 channel continuous sound installation in the Chelsea Hotel
2006 Noema, 6 channel sound installation, Tone Deaf Festival, Kingston, Ontario
2006 Untitled, collaboration with Stephen Vitiello, group exhibition with Emilio Prini, Vito Acconci and others, curated by Mario Pieroni, Diapason, NYC
2006 Room Pieces Rome 2006, solo exhibition: The Sound Art Museum, Rome, Italy
2006 Unintending, 8 channel sound installation, Artefact Festival, Leuven, Belgium
2005 Room Piece Polli Talu 2005, exhibition with Ursula Scherrer, video: Polli Talu, Ramä, Estonia
2005 Room Piece London 2005, solo exhibition: MOT, London, UK
2005 Steiner Suite, solo exhibition: )toon festival, Haarlem, The Netherlands
2005 Alley, group exhibition: “In Practice” Sculpture Center, Queens, NY
2004 Still Life, solo exhibition: Deep Listening Space, Red Hook, NY
2004 Sill Life South of Italy, solo exhibition: CCNOA Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2004 Rock’s Role, group exhibition: Art in General, NYC, curated by Ron Kuivila
2004 Still, group exhibition: Sound Cube, The Kitchen, NYC, curated by Charles Morrow and The Kitchen
2004 A Realization of Earle Brown’s Dec. 1952, group exhibition: Treasure Maps, Apex Art, NYC, and Untitled Space, New Haven, curated by Janine Antoni
2003 Electronic Music Archive, group exhibition, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, CH, curated by Norbert Möslang
2002 Room Piece Cork 2002, Triskel Arts Center, Cork, Ireland
2002 Room Piece Lyon 2002, group exhibition: New York: New Sounds, New Spaces, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France, curated by Stephen Vitiello
2001 Maspet, sound for a video by Alan Michelson, The Queens Museum, New York
2000 Untitled ‘99, group exhibition: Volume: Bed of Sound, PS 1, Long Island City, NY, curated by Elliott Sharp
2000 MAKMix, group exhibition: Museum fuer Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
Selected Performances and Commissions
2010 Lichtung/Clearing, music for the Liz Gerring Dance Company, BAC, New York
2009 Ensemble Phosphor, Isorhythmic Variations, Ostrava Music Days Festival, Czech Republic
2009 Sally Silvers and Dancers, PS 122, NY, with Bruce Andrews
2008 Ear to the Earth Festival, DRAW: 8 channel sound and 3 channel video performance
2008 DRAW, with Bruce Andrews, poetry, Alex Waterman, cello, Monkeytown, NYC
2008 DRAW, (mjs sound, Nisi Jacobs, video) with Aki Onda, Alan Licht, Keir Neuringer and dj sniff, Eas Coast Aliens, NYC
2007 Nextworks Ensemble, Grid, computer generated score, part of the Between Thought and Sound, curated by Alex Waterman, Deborah Singer and Matthew
Lyons, the Kitchen, NYC
2007 Nextworks Ensemble, Isorhythmic Variations, commission
2007 Ultraschall Festival, Berlin,, with Michael Moser, cello and Kurt Ralske, video
2006 The Stone, NYC, with David Behrman and John King
2006 MARTE Festival, Malaga, Spain, with Stephen Vitiello and David Tronzo
2005 PS 122, with Sally Silvers and Dancers
2005 The Stone, NYC, solo piano
2005 UC San Diego, with Charles Curtis
2005 )toon festival, Haarlem, solo laptop
2004 La Mama, etc., Sounds Like Now Festival, NYC, with Kato Hideki, Chris McIntyre and Rich O’Donnell
2004 Parochial Kirche, Berlin, with Kaffe Matthews
2004 Diapason, NYC, with Joan La Barbera, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Peter Zummo, and others
2003 Merkin Hall, NYC, with Tim Barnes, Kato Hideki, Toshio Kajiwara
2003 Engine 27, New York, with Kato Hideki and Jim Pugliese
2001 Podewil, Berlin, with Ensemble Zeitkratzer
2001 Transmissions IV Festival, Chicago, solo laptop
2000 Roulette, New York City, solo laptop
2000 GaleGates, Brooklyn, NY solo laptop
Selected Discography
2009 Weave, electronic music, with 2 videos by DRAW, Entr’acte, London
2008 Five Sound Installations, stand-alone applications that create music in real-time, XI, New York
2004 Stories, electronic music, Quecksilber, Berlin
2004 The Other Boulez, on “A Call for Silence”, compilation published by the Sonic Arts Network, curated by Nic Collins
2003 Room Pieces, electronic music, XI, New York
2002 Four Stills, electronic music, Sedimental, Boston, MA
2001 01-01-18, An Improvisation, improvised computer music, Quakebasket, NYC.
2000 Guitar Electrica, music for prepared electric guitar, Quakebasket, NYC.
2000 Untitled 2000, “State of the Union” CD produced by Elliott Sharp, EMF, Troy, NY
1999 Fidicin Drones, prepared electric guitar, Colorful Clouds for Acoustics, Philadelphia
1998 Room Piece, a 71 minute computer generated composition, self-produced
Awards and Residencies
2009 EMAPC, Troy NY, residency
2007 DAAD Residency, Berlin, Germany
2006 Experimental Television Center Finishing Funds Grant
2004 NYFA Fellowship
2002 RPI iEAR Residency
2001 FCPA Fellowship
1995, 90 Meet the Composer Composer’s Performance Fund Grant
1994 Harvestworks Artist-in-Residence Programming Residency
1988 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship
1982 Indiana University Undergraduate Composition Competition Winner
