Johannes S. Sistermanns

Born on 9 October 1955 in Cologne; Johannes S. Sistermanns is a composer and sound artist. From 1976 to 1984 he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, composition with Mauricio Kagel and piano with Klaus Runze; to these were added North Indian raga singing at Banaras Hindu University in 1977 and overtone singing from 1979 to 1981. After studying philosophy with Friedrich-Wilhelm von Herrmann in Freiburg he took his doctorate in musicology at Osnabrück in 1989. Since the early 2000s he has developed the KlangPlastik: instead of loudspeakers he transmits his compositions with piezo transducers directly onto walls, windows and instruments, creating a multi-media progression through space. Since 1983 he has realised radio pieces and sound features for WDR3, Deutschlandradio and ABC Sydney; his honours include the Karl-Sczuka-Preis (1997), the Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis (2008) and the Deutscher Musikautorinnen- und Musikautorenpreis (2020). Three albums connect him with Cybele, all of them volumes of the DEGEM series with which the label documents the work of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektroakustische Musik: Ausbruch Aufbruch (1998), 90 Seconds of Reality (2005) and Orpheus 400 (2007).