Pony Pracht is the multifaceted solo project of Leipzig-based singer and media artist Lisa L. Zwinzscher. Drawing from her roots in jazz vocals, she transforms her voice — layered, multiplied, and reimagined — into a complex, dynamic ecosystem that breathes, pulses and continuously evolves.
With her latest work, “Pony~”, Zwinzscher introduces a new element to her expanding sonic biotope: her own AI-generated voice. This digital entity breathes with a flowing vitality, blurring the boundaries between the organic and the synthetic.
Lisa L. Zwinzscher is part of the Composer in the Loop program. The program provides insights into AI-supported composition processes. As part of the Musikfonds‘ scholarship programme, ten musicians spend an entire year exploring the opportunities and risks of AI-based composition. The results will be presented on November 16, 2025, at Radialsystem in Berlin. Entry is free with registration.
Questions and Answers
3 FACTS
1: With my AI voice clone Pony~ I feel more whole in a certain way. It’s creepy and beautiful at the same time.
2: I was afraid that AI would take away my voice or make it redundant until I had a serious operation that put my voice and hearing at risk. Nature almost took away my ability to sing. Since then, I am no longer afraid of AI.
3: We must not lose our sense of wonder.
11 QUESTIONS
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Inspiration usually comes to me through doing – by experimenting, playing with sounds, and especially with my voice. Often, it’s a coincidence or even a mistake that sparks something new. I don’t plan for inspiration – it tends to show up on the side, while walking, watering plants, or in other moments when my mind is clear. What drives me is the desire to surprise myself and create sounds I didn’t know existed.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
Our mother sang with us a lot, and at home, my sisters and I would dance and reenact musicals. We lived in a vicarage, where a weekly flute group would meet — a place I could walk to in my slippers without thinking twice. My mother sang in a choir, and my father was a passionate music listener, especially fond of DDR singer-songwriters, whose songs often played in our home. We’d sing many of them together in the car.
Later on, I bought the cheapest electric guitar I could find and convinced my friends to start a band with me. Through music school, I discovered jazz — it opened up an entirely new musical world for me. Inspired by Lisa Simpson, I also picked up the saxophone and clarinet, but eventually, I found my main instrument in voice.
3. How does your project address the ethical and copyright-related issues that arise from the use of AI in music/composition?
I’ve always been fascinated by technology and felt a strong urge to experiment with it — especially in combination with my voice. Early on, one central question emerged: How long does my voice actually remain mine?
Driven by a mix of curiosity, skepticism, and even fear, I decided to clone my own voice to explore both the possibilities and the risks involved. As a singer, I wanted to understand what an artificially generated voice can do — and how high the potential for misuse really is.
By now, my AI voice has become a source of inspiration. It feels like an extension of my real voice. I find it fascinating to merge my voice with other instruments or hear it singing in a completely different context. The creative possibilities are vast — and I love exploring them.
At the same time, one thing is becoming increasingly clear to me: this fascination comes with responsibility. What happens if my voice is used without my consent? If it conveys messages I would never express myself?
Questions like these highlight how important it is to approach AI with ethical awareness — not just in music, but in every part of life. I want to raise awareness for that.
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Whenever I’m in Berlin, I always visit one of my sisters — or both of them — which makes the city feel a bit like home to me. I always wanted to live there, but it just never happened. I love getting on the U-Bahn and feeling that sense of endless possibility. Now, I simply enjoy being there from time to time, and I’m okay with leaving again and returning to my life in Leipzig.
5. What’s your favorite place in your town?
My studio. I love being there — especially on Sundays, when no one’s calling and there’s nothing urgent to do.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Garbage trucks have always fascinated me — basically, anything to do with trash, junkyards, or recycling. But the stage has always drawn me too, so I probably would have tried acting. Though it’s hard to imagine that my mouth wouldn’t have eventually started singing…
7. What was the last record/music you bought or listen?
Kate NV – Room for the Moon Live
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
The Space Lady
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
I find it hard to compare individual concerts because each one is special in its own way. But if I had to pick one: L.Twills at the Pop-Kultur Festival 2022. I ended up there more or less by chance — and was completely blown away.
And the most beautiful own concert recently was in Amsterdam, in a squatted house. No one there knew me, but from the very first note, everyone was deeply moved and connected with the music, giving me so much energy.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Since I discovered the computer as an instrument for myself, I’ve felt like I’ve finally arrived in the creative flow — like I’ve found what I’ve been searching for all along. I was never very patient when learning other instruments. Analog instruments and synthesizers didn’t captivate me, and my voice without processing, distortion, or experimentation wasn’t enough. With the computer, I have all possibilities.
11. How do you plan to present the results of your research at Radialsystem?
I’m planning to perform a piece I wrote for viola and AI voice. The violist Neasa Ní Bhriain will accompany me.
Neasa will “play” on my AI voice, Pony~. It’s a very intimate moment to have another instrument play my voice — I consciously entrust my voice into someone else’s hands, and vice versa. I want to share this special and abstract feeling with the audience.
