Dr. Johannes Rosenberg
special projects, violin, technology
Australia

For over 35 years, Dr. Johannes Rosenberg has been at the sharp end of experimental, new and improvised music on the global stage. Central to that practice has been 'The Relative Violin' project, a unique output, rich in content, realising almost everything on, with, and about the violin - and string music in general. Most celebrated is the worldwide Fence project; least known are the relative violins - over 20 home experimental string instruments, created specifically for and in Australia.

In the area of interactive electronics, his work is considered exemplary, having pioneered the use of the MIDI bow in the 'Hyperstring' project in the 1980s with the Steim Institute, Amsterdam - and with whom he continues to collaborate often in interactive projects involving sport, games, or the environment.

Dr. Johannes Rosenberg has appeared on more than 60 albums and collaborated with many of the mavericks of new music including Kronos String Quartet, John Cage, Derek Bailey, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Alvin Curran, Fred Frith, George Lewis, Otomo Yoshihide, Christian Marclay, Eugene Chadbourne, etc. at festivals of New Music, Jazz, and Sound Art world wide such as Ars Elektronica, Festival D’Automne, Maerzmusik, Dokumenta, North Sea Jazz Fest, Leipzig Jazz Fest, European Media, New Music America, the Vienna Festival, the Berlin Jazz Festival, etc.

Recently Dr. Johannes Rosenberg was commissioned by the Kronos String Quartet to write and build "Music from 4 Fences" for the Sydney Opera House; realised his bicycle powered "Pursuit" project at Carriage Works (Sydney) and The Mona Foma Festival (Hobart); performed a completely new and improvised solo part for the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; created two major radiophonic works for the BBC on the first Aboriginal string orchestra and the history of the piano in 19th century Australia; toured in Europe with his current improvisation groups 'Futch' and 'Strike'; premiered his interactive huge Ball project at The Melbourne Festival and Sounds Outback (W.A.); performed his interactive multi-media composition "Internal Combustion" for violin and orchestra at The Philharmonic, Berlin; and been apprehended by the Israeli Defence Forces at the Separation Fence near Ramallah in the occupied territories.