Irmin Schmidt (born 29 May 1937) is a German

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, best known as a founding member of the band

Can Can may refer to: Containers * Aluminum can * Drink can * Oil can * Steel and tin cans * Trash can * Petrol can * Metal can (disambiguation) Music * Can (band), West Germany, 1968 ** ''Can'' (album), 1979 * Can (South Korean band) Other * C ...

Biography

Schmidt was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany, began his studies in music at the conservatorium in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

, at the

Folkwang Hochschule The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in E ...

in Essen, the

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Moz ...

in Salzburg, and he studied

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

's Cologne Courses for New Music at the ,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. He started work mainly as a conductor and performed in concerts with the

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

Symphony; the

Vienna Symphony The Vienna Symphony (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, german: Wiener Symphoniker) is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna. Its primary concert venue is the Konzerthaus, Vienna, Vienna Konzerthaus. In Vienna, the orchestra also performs at the Musikv ...

; and the Dortmund Ensemble for New Music, which he founded in 1962. During this time, he received several conducting awards. Schmidt also worked as

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

at the

Theater Aachen Theater Aachen is a theatre in Aachen, Germany. It is the principal venue in that city for operas, musical theatre and plays. It is the home of the Aachen Symphony Orchestra. The original project was by Johann Peter Cremer, later altered by Kar ...

, as

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

for musical theatre and

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic s ...

at the

Schauspielschule Bochum Schauspielschule Bochum is the informal name of a drama school in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is now part of the Folkwang University of the Arts. It has a long tradition, being founded in 1939 as Westfälische Schauspielschu ...

(drama school), and as concert pianist. In 1968, Schmidt founded the experimental

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...

band

with

Holger Czukay Holger Schüring (24 March 1938 – 5 September 2017), known professionally as Holger Czukay (), was a German musician best known as a co-founder of the krautrock group Can. Described as "successfully bridg ngthe gap between pop and the avant-g ...

Michael Karoli Michael Karoli (29 April 1948 – 17 November 2001) was a German guitarist, violinist and composer. He was a founding member of the influential krautrock band Can. Career Karoli was born and grew up in Straubing, Bavaria, moving to St. Gall ...

, and

Jaki Liebezeit Jaki Liebezeit (born Hans Liebezeit; 26 May 1938 – 22 January 2017) was a German drummer, best known as a founding member of experimental rock band Can. He was called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral". ...

. Schmidt served as Can's keyboardist until the group's disbandment in 1979. He participated in both reunions of Can, in 1986 and 1991. Schmidt has scored more than 40 films and television programs, including ''

Knife in the Head A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

'' (1978) and ''

Palermo Shooting ''Palermo Shooting'' is a 2008 film written and directed by German director Wim Wenders, and starring Campino, Dennis Hopper, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Lou Reed as himself, and an uncredited Milla Jovovich, also playing herself. It was screened at the ...

'' (2008). He has recorded a few solo albums and written an opera, ''

Gormenghast Gormenghast may refer to: * ''Gormenghast'' (series), a trilogy of novels by Mervyn Peake ** ''Gormenghast'' (novel), second in the series * ''Gormenghast'' (opera), an opera based on the books * ''Gormenghast'' (TV serial), a BBC adaptatio ...

'', based on

Mervyn Peake Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was an English writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the '' Gormenghast'' books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived ...

's ''

Gormenghast Trilogy ''Gormenghast'' is a fantasy series by British author Mervyn Peake, about the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, Gothic architecture, Gothic structure. Originally conceived as a single on-going novel, the series was ended ...

''. ''Gormenghast'' premiered at the

Opernhaus Wuppertal Opernhaus Wuppertal (Wuppertal Opera House) is a German theatre in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses mostly performances of operas, but also plays, run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen. The house is also the venue for dance perfo ...

in 1998. Excerpts from the work were released on Spoon Records in 1999.

Spoon Records Spoon Records is an independent record label managed by Hildegard Schmidt, wife of keyboard player Irmin Schmidt, since 1979, on which music by the krautrock band Can and its members has been released and re-released. It takes its name from the ...

''Gormenghast'' / A fantasy opera by Irmin Schmidt
Retrieved 17 July 2013 His wife Hildegard Schmidt has been responsible for Can's management and record label,

, since the 1970s. As of 2008, Schmidt lives in

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

. His interests outside music include cooking. In 2015, he received the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

(Chevalier). In 2018, Schmidt and British writer and editor Rob Young published a book on Can entitled '' All Gates Open: The Story of Can''.

Discography

Solo

* ''Filmmusik'' (1980) * ''Filmmusik, Vol. 2'' (1981) * ''Toy Planet'' (1981) with

Bruno Spoerri Bruno Alexander Spoerri (born 16 August 1935) is a Swiss jazz and electronics musician. Born in Zurich, he studied applied psychology in Basel and Zurich. He played the saxophone as a student, and toured with the Modern Jazz Group Freiburg ...

* ''Filmmusik, Vols. 3 & 4'' (1983) * ''

Rote Erde Stadion Rote Erde (; ''Red Earth Stadium'') is a 25,000 capacity (3,000 seated) football and athletics stadium in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It serves as the home stadium to Borussia Dortmund II and several athletic clubs. The stadium was ...

'' (1983) soundtrack * ''Musk at Dusk'' (1987) * ''Filmmusik Vol. 5'' (1989) * ''Impossible Holidays'' (1991) * ''Soundtracks 1978–1993'' (1994) * ''Gormenghast'' (2000) * ''Masters of Confusion'' (2001) with Kumo * ''Flies, Guys and Choirs'' (2008) DVD with Kumo * ''Axolotl Eyes'' (2008) with Kumo * ''

'' (2008) soundtrack * ''Filmmusik Anthology, Volume 4 & 5'' (2009) * ''Villa Wunderbar'' (2013), 2-CD compilation, sleeve notes by

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

* ''Filmmusik Anthology Volume 6'' (2015) * ''5 Klavierstücke'' (2018) * ''Nocturne (Live at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival)'' (2020)

With Can

Bibliography

Videography

*'' Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock'' (2019)

References

External links

*
The Official CAN / Spoon Records Website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Irmin 1937 births Living people German keyboardists German film score composers Male film score composers German male composers Mozarteum University Salzburg alumni Can (band) members Musicians from Berlin Pupils of Karlheinz Stockhausen Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres