Matthias Kaul

About Matthias Kaul

Matthias Kaul began his musical career as a rock and jazz drummer. He studied percussion at the Hochschule for Music in Hamburg, receiving a soloist’s diplo- ma. He has worked with many important composers and performers such as John Zorn, David Moss, Elliott Sharp, Carla Bley, Malcolm Goldstein, Mauricio Kagel, Hans Werner Henze, Vinko Globokar, Hans Joachim Hespos, Alvin Lucier, and James Tenney. Numerous concert tours have taken Kaul throughout Europe, as well as to North and South America, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Canada, and Africa. In Africa, he was deeply involved in the study of the traditional music of various ethnic groups including the Maasai and the Samburu. Kaul is a founding member of the ensemble L’ART POUR L’ART.

Matthias Kaul is a self-taught composer. He feels that premiering more than 300 works by other composers, most written in close collaboration with himself as performer, provided him with the best possible education as a composer. Kaul has received commissions from broadcasting institutions (Deutschlandfunk, Hessian Broadcasting HR, West German Broadcasting WDR, Saarland Broad- casting SR), opera houses (in Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, and Berlin), ensembles (such as L‘ART POUR L‘ART, Schola Heidelberg, Lucilin, Nomos Quartet, Klank, and one two one), festivals (Witten Days for New Chamber Music, the Bavarian State Opera’s avantgarde Festspiel+, Rainy Days Luxemburg, and the Salzburg Biennale), as well as from other institutions (such as Mutemus New York, IMD Darmstadt, and the Arno Schmidt Foundation).

Recordings of his performances and compositions are available on several labels. In 2012, Matthias Kaul received the ECHO Klassik prize and the German Record Critics’ Award.

www.matthiaskaul.de