Ludger Kisters studied composition in Weimar, Wellington, Zurich and Paris. His work focuses on sound and space, often combining instruments with computer generated sounds. He collaborated with internationally renowned performers like the Arditti quartet, Carin Levine and Staatskapelle Weimar. Around the world he recorded sounds of natural environments to create new compositions, i.e. sounds from river dolphins in the Amazon rainforest. Together with Gisela Nauck and Uli Aumüller, Ludger Kisters is artistic director of the first Mühlenbecker Klanglandschaften, the new music festival near Berlin focusing on the relation of music and nature. As part of the festival, the ensemble „reflexion k“ will perform his new work „Fließ!“ („Flow!“), a composition for flute, clarinet, cello and live-electronics, on the 25th of May 2019 at Berufsförderungswerk Mühlenbeck, 8pm. This concert is followed the next day (26th of May) by open air performances in the stunning natural settings at Summter See, a lake near Berlin, including baroque music by Lautten Compagney Berlin, accordion improvisations with Teodoro Anzellotti and contemporary orchestral works. More electronic sounds can be heard at the festival’s opening concert on the 25th of May, 2pm at the church of Mühlenbeck, including works for drums, cymbalon, voice and computer generated sounds.
FACTS:
1: In the last few years the number of birds and insects in Europe has decreased dramatically.
2: Random is important, not only in music.
3: The jaw harp is a great instrument.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Nature.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I started to learn flute with 5 years at home, with 9 years piano. My father, an organ player at church, was my first teacher.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Chick Corea – Return to forever
Bob Marley – Uprising
Pink Floyd – Relics
Django Reinhardt – Djangology
Pixies – Surfer Rosa
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Creativity, history, challenges.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
The lakes.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I would spend my time making movies.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Massive Attack – Mezzanine.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Lee Scratch Perry.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
RIAS Kammerchor Berlin at Dorfkirche Tegel, May 2018.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
A lot of my compositions are based on computer generated sounds, i.e. live-electronic signal processing of instrumental sounds.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I have two older brothers. They play guitar, so music connects us.
Photo © Ludger Kisters