Franz Martin Olbrisch

Born on 5 November 1952 in Mülheim an der Ruhr; Franz Martin Olbrisch is a composer and sound artist. From 1979 to 1985 he studied composition and music theory at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin with Frank Michael Beyer. From 1986 to 1996 he taught theory at the Kirchenmusikschule Berlin, from 1988 to 2008 composition at the Universität der Künste Berlin and at the Electronic Studio of the Technische Universität Berlin; from 2008 to 2020 he headed the Studio für Elektronische Musik of the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden as professor. Until 1989 he wrote mainly instrumental works, after which multimedia and interdisciplinary approaches came to the fore; his works include the string quartet “Ein Quadratmeter Schwärze”, the orchestral pieces “Grain” and “craquelé” and the 48-hour radiophonic installation “FM o99.5”. His honours include the Boris-Blacher-Preis (1984); since 2013 he has been a member of the Sächsische Akademie der Künste. Three albums connect him with Cybele. Two of them are volumes of the DEGEM series: 90 Seconds of Reality (2005) and Orpheus 400 (2007). To these is added a contribution to the audiobook production Weht ein Stadtspaziergang durch den Traum (2014).