Philipp Wachsmann performer, violinist and improviser since 1969. With particular interest in freeing and expanding what music can do and say, he now focusses on colour, acoustic and emotional space and on feeling, to create and realise an imaginary world of interaction and human experience, reality and illusion.The starting point is the natural sound of the violin,
which is then extended with electronics of various kinds.
Often performing solo. he has worked with painters, dance, architecture, his own and other's films, mixed media and electro- acoustic recording. His music often is in empathy with some abstract visual art and aspects of contemporary thinking. Process, thoughts, experience, sound and context are part of the tools brought to bear on the music. Time is also displaced - music is in the moment, but draws on a wealth of involvements and experiences from other times.
Recent work included compositions for a large ensemble, one with conductors, another with film (both recorded on the Emanem label) and a work using more conventional resources for Chamber Orchestra. Ensembles include The Evan Parker Electro Acoustic Ensemble, King Ubu Orchestru, LIO, Iskra 1903, Quintet Moderne, Lines, Xaxa, Pistri, Duos with Martin Blume, Matthew Hutchinson, with the bassist Teppo Hauta-aho, with Paul Lytton. He has made over seventy recordings (on Incus, Bead, Emanem, ECM, Ogun, FMP, Sofa, Po Torch, Intakt, For 4 Ears, Nato, Leo, Hat Art, Maya, Soul Note, Random Acoustics, Splasch) of which two are solos 'Writing in Water' and 'Chathuna', and most recently 'Refractions in Air' with the electro-acoustic expert Michael Bunce and 'Apparitions' on Leo Records.