New Music by Karlheinz Essl

Live recording, performed by Karlheinz Essl at Museum Liaunig on June 20th, 2026. https://www.essl.at/works/zuschreibung Using synthesisers he has developed himself, composer Karlheinz Essl explores the sculpture gallery at the Museum Liaunig and the art work by Robert Tauber on display there. Using sounds never heard before, he makes his mark on this gigantic space with its extraordinary acoustic...

Binaural production - listen with headphones! An acoustic portrait of Krakow, a vibrant and energetic city in Poland. This generative soundscape is based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded in Krakow, Poland on June 7th, 2026. Released: 10 Jun 2026 1) Cleaning up Rynek Square on Sunday morning. 2) Roadworks with an excavator. 3) Florianska Street with bells...

Binaural production - listen with headphones! An acoustic portrait of the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz, founded in 1133 and world-renowned for its Gregorian choral school. As well as nourishing the soul, the body should not be neglected either – a shaded outdoor dining area is available for this purpose. A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soun...

Electronic music based on a recording of a self-developed modular synth called L0P7OP, performed on 18 May 2026 at Studio khz. Produced with REAPER. L0P7OP is another addition to my ongoing work in progress, 'My Daily Wobble': minimalist modular system comprising a phase-locked loop, a random generator, a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and a resonating voltage-controlled filter (VCF), with lo...

Gerhard Eckel: electro-dynamic feedback system Karlheinz Essl: modular electronics Recorded live at Studio kHz on May 1, 2026. Mastered by Gerhard Eckel. https://www.essl.at/div/rhibozom.html YouTube video: https://youtu.be/JKOG74rIdNs rhibozom is a duo of Karlheinz Essl and Gerhard Eckel working at the intersection of electrodynamic feedback, analog synthesis, and shared physical instrument-makin...

An acoustic portrait of Belfast where I visited the famous Sonorities Festival at the Queen's University where my composition VIRIBVS VNITIS for harpsichord and toy piano was performed by Yonit Kosovske and Xenia Pestova Bennett. Binaural production - please listen with headphones! A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded...

Gerhard Eckel: electro-dynamic feedback system Karlheinz Essl: modular electronics with resonators Recorded live at Studio kHz on March 31, 2026 https://www.essl.at/div/rhibozom.html YouTube video: https://youtu.be/EhgA_eu_92E rhibozom is a duo of Karlheinz Essl and Gerhard Eckel working at the intersection of electrodynamic feedback, analog synthesis, and shared physical instrument-making. Gerhar...

Soundtrack for a dance performance by Andrea Nagl. Recorded live by Karlheinz Essl on custom-built modular electronics at Studio kHz on March 12, 2023. https://essl.at/works/geology-of-thought.html

My first experiment with the Music Thing Modular Workshop System, a powerful compact modular desktop system. In this patch, I was creating a chaotic system using two ring-modulated oscillators with frequency modulation from two slope generators and a self-resonating bandpass filter. Part of the work-in-progress "My Daily Wobble" (2025 ff.) https://www.essl.at/works/my-daily-wobble.html Performed l...

Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST in two parts, using the two generators of a KORG NTS-2 oscilloscope as modulation sources. A passive Doepfer A-183-1 dual attenuator is used to attenuate certain signals. Performed live at Studio kHz on 30 December 2025. Recorded with an iPhone. https://www.essl.at/works/coastlines.html

Nava Hemyari (voice) & Karlheinz Essl (electronics). Part of the album "Karanava" (2025). Two composers, differing in terms of gender, age, cultural background and instrument, leave their writing desks and venture into the unknown. Despite — or perhaps because of — these differences, they create something genuinely new together: songs composed instantly, without any prior planning, in the moment....

A composition for melodica and live-electronics by Karlheinz Essl. It was commissioned by the Non-Piano/Toy Piano Weekend and premiered by Steven Tanoto on November 22, 2025 at Resonanzraum St. Pauli in Hamburg. Recorded and produced by Karlheinz Essl. If we think of the organ as a giant mountain, then we can think of the melodica as a kind of shrunken-down version of that - a tump. In my piece, t...

Binaural production - listen with headphones for full immersion! I embarked on a dreamlike journey through Cologne when I visited the Museum Ludwig that presented collaborative works by John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg. An interactive installation by the latter encouraged visitors to engage in unusual activities such as clapping, shouting, singing and w...

Binaural production - listen with headphones! Mixed impressions of Dortmund, an industrial town in the German Ruhr area where a ten-hour concert took place at the Petrikirche. While Wolfgang Kogert was rehearsing my organ piece, 'Partikel-Bewegung', the city was celebrating Halloween. A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recor...

I spent the last weeks in Apulia, a beautiful landscape in Southern Italy, charged with history and stories. The symbol of this region is the Pumo - a traditional ceramic figurine which depicts a stylized flower bud. This gave the title of a new piece for my H.E.A.D. cycle: a immersive sound portrait of this landscape. When listening, you will visit a street market in Ostuni, witness a procession...

Binaural production - listen with headphones! A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded in Pécs, Hungary, between 27 and 28 June 2025: 1) A performance on a broken electronic organ in Toplje Church. 2) Walking through Pécs city centre at noon. 3) A restaurant with a nice view of Pécs at night. 4) A bottle return machine at...

Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synthesizer, patched as a chaotic feedback system. Recorded during rehearsals for the MAPPER conference on live electronics at the Klangtheater of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) on 2 July 2025.

Binaural production - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded at the Conservatorio di Milano on May 27th, 2025: 1) Inside the conservatory yard 2) Walking through the conservatory 3) In the cafeteria of the conservatory 4) On the roof terrace of Babila Hostel, next to the conservatory Info: https://essl.at/work...

Karlheinz Essl's last piece for toy piano. Performed live by himself during his farewell concert on May 5th, 2025 at the Klangtheater of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. https://www.essl.at/works/ bricolage.html https://www.essl.at/concerts/2025.html#mdw

Im Gespräch mit der trans-Art Künstlerin Astrid Rieder spricht Karlheinz Essl über die Zeit, „Zufall und Notwendigkeit“ (Jacques Monod), über die Dialektik von Gemütlichkeit und Unbequemlichkeit in der kollektiven Performance und die Improvisation als Rettung. Nach langjähriger Erfahrung mit digitalen Werkzeugen experimentiert Karlheinz Essl seit einiger Zeit mit einem hochempfindlichen analogen m...

Binaural production - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded in Brno, Czech Republic on Feb 6th, 2025: 1) A walk through Brno's main station 2) Garbage collection in the morning 3) Soundcheck on the stage of Divadlo na Orli with Karlheinz playing the toy piano 4) Listening to cars and trams from above Info: ht...

Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synthesizer in three parts: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. Performed live at Studio kHz on Dec 20th, 2024. No overdubs, no edits. https://essl.at/works/coastlines.html

Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synthesizer in four parts, dedicated to the four seasons. Performed live at Studio kHz on Dec 19th, 2024. No overdubs, no MIDI, no sequencer, no arpeggiator - just manual control in real time! Watch: https://youtu.be/Htd_AuqimMk https://www.essl.at/works/coastlines.html

Binaural production - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded in Rome, Italy between November 29-30, 2024: 1) A street demonstration during the general strike 2) At the bar of a popular café near S. Maria Maggiore 3) In the archives of the Isabella Scelsi Foundation 4) A nun decorating the altar of the Basilica...

Generative sound environment for an art installation by Beat Zoder, written in MaxMSP. 6-channel live performance with Max9 at Studio kHz on 12 Dec 2024. Binaural rendering with REAPER and dearVR. Listen with headphones! https://essl.at/works/hirsch-roehren.html In 2006, Swiss artist Beat Zoderer and Austrian composer Karlheinz Essl were commissioned to create a collaborative work for the music fe...