Wolfgang Heisig (born in 1952) is a German pianist and composer who is known for his contemporary application of piano rolls.

Life and career

Born in

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...

, Heisig studied piano and composition at the

Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber The Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber (Carl Maria von Weber College of Music; also/formerly known as Dresden Conservatory or Dresden Royal Conservatory) is a university of music in Dresden, Germany. History The Hochschule opened ...

in Dresden between 1972 and 1978. Since 1980 he has composed short aphoristic piano pieces, which form the collection ''Klaviertöne''. He also worked for the , on whose debut album he participated in 1989. Furthermore, he was involved in the composition of the

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

for the feature film '. Since 1990, Heisig has been intensively engaged with the music of the composer

Conlon Nancarrow Samuel Conlon Nancarrow (; October 27, 1912 – August 10, 1997) was an American- Mexican composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. Nancarrow is best remembered for his ''Studies for Player Piano'', being one of the first ...

, who often punched his compositions into paper rolls that were played with

player piano A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...

s. Since Nancarrow was hardly interested in the duplication and distribution of these rolls, Heisig not only acquired a to interpret the works through nuanced pedalling and actuation of dynamic and tempo levers. He also had a PC-controlled punching machine built to produce and perform Nancarrow's compositions on a music roll. In the meantime, this has resulted in the world's only music roll edition of Nancarrow's works. Heisig also duplicates his own compositions with the roll technique. In his concerts he interprets Nancarrow as well as his own and other contemporary works. In 2011 he published an album with contemporary phonola music with the

Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm MD&G or Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (founded 1978) is a German classical record label based in Detmold run by recording engineers and producers Werner Dabringhaus and Reimund Grimm. MDG is notable for its premiere recordings of works by Ge ...

; he also wrote a volume of poetry which was published by in 2018. With

Michael Wollny Michael Wollny (born 25 May 1978) is a German jazz pianist and a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig. He has played with international musicians including Joachim Kühn, Tamar Halperin, Marius Neset, Andreas Schaerer, Ém ...

Émile Parisien Émile Parisien (born 12 October 1982) is a French soprano and alto saxophonist, jazz musician, and composer. Career Émile Parisien entered the fifth class at the age of 11 in the first class of Marciac's ''College de jazz'', where he studi ...

, and

Leafcutter John Leafcutter John is the recording name of John Burton, a UK-based musician and artist. He makes frequent use of Max/MSP in his compositions. Much of Burton's style is based in computer music and use of samples of everyday sounds. However, he a ...

, he played at the ceremony "100 Years Bauhaus" at the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

. In 2007 Heisig received the .

Compositions

* ''Sprachfachübungen''. * ''Phonola''. * ''Methodenenwicklungen zur Identitätsprüfung pflanzlicher Drogen : mit weiterführenden Untersuchungen an den Infloreszenzen von 'Calendula officinalis' L''. * ''Mars saugt Mut : for phonola and sampler''. * List of 13 Compositions in the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

.List of 13 Compositions
in the

References

External links

*
Webpräsenz
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heisig, Wolfgang 1952 births Living people People from Zwickau German classical pianists Male classical pianists 20th-century classical composers German film score composers 20th-century German male musicians