2023

• 🚌 On my way back from an inspiring week on the US East Coast: Hopping over the border from my temporary home base in Montreal 🍁, I was happy and grateful to share and discuss my work in significant and inspiring ways at Harvard University, Manhattan School of Music and Middlebury College 🎓🇺🇸💫
  🫶 Big thanks go out to Chaya Czernowin, Jonah Haven, Harvard Group for New Music, Reiko Fueting, and Laurel Jenkins for making this possible and welcoming me in such a generous way, and all those attending the talks and contributing with their questions, comments, and mere presence 🙏 🤓 🎃
  It was a pleasure to evoke all those questions that accompany me in my creative process and see how other creative and sensitive minds relate to them, and discover whatever other paradigms are important to them 🫀
  😻 Last but not least thanks to my new and old friends I was lucky to see and (re-)connect with along the way and whose hospitality made all of this possible 💛
  🇺🇸 This was not only musically inspiring, but also a beautiful opportunity to discover the US in new and unexpected ways, including Boston, Vermont, and my former temporary home base New York City 🗽 🍇 Letting these experiences now ripen and incubate and let’s see whatever comes out on the other end 🍾
  🇨🇦 And now back to Montréal, looking forward to the electro-acoustic concert with film projection next Friday at Goethe-Institut Montreal with Le Vivier! Come on out if you’re around 🎵🎶🧑‍🎤 [11/07/2023]

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• ⛵ This upcoming year will be rich in travels: Arrived safe and sound in Montreal, for what is one out of two residencies awarded by the Goethe-Institut Montreal and Le Vivier. 💫 Thanks so much for this amazing opportunity and the very warm welcome, and looking very much forward to all the encounters, concerts, discoveries, projects lying ahead – and the snow! ❄ 🌨 ⛄
  👨‍🎓 Particularly happy to be joining McGill University (Schulich School of Music) and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) as a graduate research trainee to further the work on my music and doctorate.
  📆 A couple of events are in the pipeline, stay tuned, and feel free to reach out if you happen to be in the area! 🍻🌭 📸 In the meantime enjoy these improvised snapshots of the city in all its instagrammable glory 🏆 [09/27/2023]

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• 🥎 Better late than never: A great week in Lyon has come to a close. Thanks so much to GRAME (Lyon) for hosting be for a working residency, making it possible to concoct a new version of "rosebud" with the one and only Victor Virnot. Thanks Max Bruckert for his expertise and overall fun time together, I've learned a lot and the piece starts standing on its own two feet. Thanks for that! 🎳 Also a big shout out to the artistic direction and the amazing administrative team for their warm welcome, including coffee and crémeux aux fruits de jacquier.
  🌴 And last but not least to the composition, performance and many other students of Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse de Lyon for stopping by and exchanging on music and movement, the intricacies of sensor composition and collaborative processes 🐿 Hopefully till soon! And stay tuned for rosebud 2.0, to be continued! 🔥 [09/17/2023]

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• Finally the video is up and online! "le vide à perdre" (2016), in its revised version of 2019, performed for the first time, and on top of all with such verve and dedication, by the magnificent ensemble consord on their tour through Cologne, Hamburg and Dortmund. Big thanks to Norbert Fabritius for the recording and the editing, to everybody else listening, have fun! [07/05/2023]
  

  CONSORD 2023 Matthias Krüger – le vide à perdre from Norbert Fabritius on Vimeo.

• 🌈 Very happy to have been selected for a three-months' residency at the Centro Tedesco Studi Veneziani/Deutsches Studienzentrum in Venice for 2024! A big thank you goes out the Ministry of Culture and Media in Germany/Staatsministerin für Kultur und Medien and the selection committee making all this possible 🙏 . Very much looking forward to getting to know the city, its canals, history, art, mythology and crowds of tourists, tourist traps and steam boats, as well as my co-fellows and their work, ranging from music to architecture and visual arts and much more! ⛪️
  🚤 Congrats to them, and here's to some memorable encounters, conversations and experiences to come! 🌅
  📡 For more info on the program and my co-fellows, feel free to check out the press release here.
  💁‍♂️ Now let's see how I will be putting into practice my brand-new Italian skills 🤓
  ⚓️ Photo credit: wikipedia and insta filter – screenshot smartphone with duolingooo app and its amazing examples 🫶 [06/29/2023]

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• 🎸🎺 🎸🎺 An awesome tour with ensemble consord has come to an end: Starting with their unbreakable will to excavate them 1990s synthesizers and effect pedals, they braved the electronic intricacies and distortions of my #levideaperdre, originally written 2016 for the Eclat festival and recorded by ensemble ascolta in 2019, I was very glad to be part of a new interpretation and a set of live performances, on top of all executed with such verve and dedication. With rehearsals starting in my dear Cologne, the tour brought us to Loft Köln, Resonanzraum Hamburg and Domicil Dortmund where I was lucky enough to hear the piece in different moods, spaces and acoustics—shouts to the audacious and warmhearted ensemble, Tamon Yashima for his tireless organization and conducting talent, André Weisse for his fine ear and technical knowhow and support and, last but not least, the teams of the venues for their warm reception and flawless support!
  🎙📻 The full recording is to come soon, stay tuned – in the meantime feel free to enjoy those snippets and to follow the musicians for their next outings 💫 [06/21/2023]
  🟅 🟅 🟅 🟅 🟅
  "Quand je m’y suis mis quelquefois à considérer les diverses agitations des hommes et les périls et les peines où ils s’exposent, dans la cour, dans la guerre, d’où naissent tant de querelles, de passions, d’entreprises hardies et souvent mauvaises, etc., j’ai découvert que tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre. [ ... ]
  De là vient que le jeu et la conversation des femmes, la guerre, les grands emplois sont si recherchés. Ce n’est pas qu’il y ait en effet du bonheur, ni qu’on s’imagine que la vraie béatitude soit d’avoir l’argent qu’on peut gagner au jeu, ou dans le lièvre qu’on court : on n’en voudrait pas, s’il était offert. [...]
  De là vient que les hommes aiment tant le bruit et le remuement ; de là vient que la prison est un supplice si horrible ; de là vient que le plaisir de la solitude est une chose incompréhensible. [...]."
  — Blaise Pascal, Pensées

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• Another new recording available: Andreas Roth of Ensemble E-MEX performing the premiere of the miniature fragment "fl*sh" for trombone, flesh and live-electronics on January 20th, 2023, handling multiple sensors and a bunch of quotes and references inspired by philosopher Volker Demuth's insightful 300-page essay "Fleisch", all of which in under four minutes and a half. Like in old times, miniatures and bagatelles can be a great space for experimentation, and I'm grateful to Andreas and the ensemble to have offered me this beautiful opportunity; special thanks to Jörn Nettingsmeier for the lighting and sound.
  ✫ To be continued, developed, expanded on... ✫
  👉 For the full recording, simply click 🎙 here. [02/01/2023]

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2022

• New recording online: Under the guidance of Dr. Lydia Jeschke, the Southwest German Radio Station (SWR) has recorded and broadcast Ensembles Aventure's wonderful concert from last July, with my newly revised version of "Hier war Blau, hier war Gelb, hier war Grün" (originally entitled "Himmel floß und Fluss") alongside music by Sofía Scheps, Ralf Hoyer and Vladimir Guicheff Bogacz. Huge shouts to Keiko Murakami, Akiko Okabe and Andrea Nagy for their beautiful and persevering interpretation, Manuel Braun and his team from SWR for the technical support and crisp recording as well as to the ensemble and Lydia Jeschke for the invitation! To listen to it, click here. [01/19/2023]
• Glad and honored to have been asked to contribute a couple of ideas to this trimester's issue of the "MusikTexte" journal on contemporary classical music. The text is unfortunately not (yet) available to the non-German-speaking readers, but maybe some thoughts transpire nonetheless. Feel free to check out the screenshots and have a closer look if your curiosity strikes you. To purchase it, simply click here (or check out any larger specialised music library). [08/01/2022]

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• Last November's live-recording of Ensemble Recherche's splendid performance Die freye Lust (Passacaglia on a theme by Daft Punk) is still available online through July 10th, 2022, approx. Click >>here and go to minute 8' roughly. Enjoy, and shouts out to the wonderful ensemble and the great recording technicians! [06/11/2022]
• The live-recording of Klangforum Wien's beautiful performance of craving your kiss is still online through June 11th, 2022. Click >>here and go to minute 5'. [12.05.2022]
• Happy to share the beautiful collaboration with video artist Rikisaburo Sato, choreographer Eddie Martinez and the intrepid Ensemble Inverspace on my piece sweep over me them dusty bristles. Check out our concert-film, produced for my portrait CD at Podium Gegenwart/Deutscher Musikrat and WERGO. [03/28/2022]
  

  sweep over me them dusty bristles | Matthias Krüger from Edition Zeitgenössische Musik on Vimeo.

• Very happy to find my album ᴀɪɴ·ᴛ ɴᴜᴛʜɪɴ· ʙᴜᴛ ғᴀɪʀʏ ᴅᴜsᴛ longlisted for the 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀' 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 / 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘂𝘁𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗸𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗸 !🥳💿👂✨ Congrats to everyone involved and the other nominees, and stay tuned for Quartely Critic's Choice announced on Feb 15th! 👉👉 Longlist of the 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀' 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 [01/05/2022]

2021

• Finally out in the stores and online: Available in Europe, UK, North America, Japan and hopefully elsewhere which I don't know of, and most importantly for streaming on Amazon Music, Spotify and others! A journey that, one could argue, started out with a delayed train in the central train station of Cologne in early Summer 2015 – and took me to the rooftops of Istanbul – an empty childhood house in 2016 – a winterly train ride to Switzerland in 2017 – the bafffling lushness of Aotearoa spring time of 2018 – the refreshing winds of the Baltic sea in the heat of a 2019 summer – up to an awkward season of curfews and confinements, pushing inwards, and eventually outwards enough for me to pick up the paint brush and portray that Gremlin having a blast in the midst of the flowering meadow 👨‍🎨 👻
  For more info, feel free to click here! [12/01/2021]

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• Things have been in the planning for quite a while now, but now that it’s gotten official I’m excited to announce that I’ll be joining IRCAM in Paris this upcoming Fall, learning some new skills in this year’s Cursus on Composition and Computer Music and doing some research for my recently started doctorate at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Curious to meet my new colleagues, their work and their spirit, be it in Hamburg or in Paris, and thanks an awful lot to everyone supporting my applications (if you read this, you’ll know who you are!), and obviously including DAAD whose grant will make all of this possible. Starting October I’ll be happily joining Cité internationale des arts again, continuing last year’s adventures in downtown Paris, meeting lots of new and old friends (again), though hopefully this time under less pandemic auspices. [07/21/21]

2020

• With the Coronavirus once again sadly tightening its grip on us, many countries and regions have imposed a major shutdown of the public and cultural life. The first performances of my music to be cancelled are the ones in France: the premiere of my piano miniature ce n'est qu'en nageant nu at the Philharmonie de Paris as well its follow-up performance in Nancy/Lorraine. A new premiere date and venue is currently being scouted. Luckily, Ensemble BRuCH will be able to perform their concert at Festival Rockenhausen (Germany), albeit behind closed doors, and have a recording online shortly after, which I will be gladly sharing once available. Stay strong and healthy everyone. [11/02/2020]
  "There is no escape from the voice. A hundred times I object that that is all beside the point, but, although it goes silent for a little while, it starts up again, imperceptibly at first, with its stubborn 'Yes, yes, you may be right, but it's still not the stone that looks like a lump of fat'. I am slowly filled with an unbearable sense of my own powerlessness." (Gustav Meyrink, The Golem, 1915)
  
• Coincidentally stumbled upon the live-recording of my orchestra piece "Bellygoat Boom", the world premiere of its instrumental substrate version performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under the baton of maestra Elena Schwarz. Feel free to check it out! [10/19/2020]
  "I want to run, I want to hide / I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside / I wanna reach out and touch the flame" (U2, Where the streets have no name)
  
  
• Back in Cologne, after a marvellous, albeit emergency-state-like time in beautiful Paris as well as intense and inspiring rehearsals and experimentation workshops with the ensembles Inverspace und Recherche. Looking forward to the world premiere of the new version of "sweep over me them dusty bristles" and the last pending recording for my upcoming portrait disc on Edition zeitgenössische Musik/WERGO. [06.10.2020]
  
• Arrived safe and sound at the Cité Internationale des Arts and still a couple of weeks ahead. I am grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be able zu spend this special time in this not less special city and to connect with old and new friends, making new discoveries and refreshing my senses. In the meantime the new version of my piece for the splendid Ensemble Inverspace is done, the new title isn't decided upon yet, what is though, is that we'll be molding the theatrical and choreographic concept of the piece further in an inspiring and inspired collaboration with dancer and choreographer Eddie Martinez (Tanztheater Pina Bausch/Wuppertal). Zoom be blessed, and so I'm very much looking forward to our rehearsals in September in Switzerland and more so the performance in October in Cologne. Meanwhile the rehearsals have started for the premiere of my piano miniature "ce n'est qu'en nageant nu", written for the Parisian pianist Hugues Leclère, for a premiere at Philharmonie de Paris/Cité de la Musique. Also, the first dates for the 2020/21 season have been confirmed. For more details information, feel free to check out the section "Dates"! [17.08.2020]
  
• When I picked the title "craving your kiss" about three months ago, I didn't expect it to become so universally applicable to our current situation. The world is going crazy, concerts are cancelled, people socially distant, the future uncertain. So two new pieces are done, awaiting their premiere, "ce n'est qu'en nageant nu", a piano miniature written for Hugues Leclère, to be premiered at Paris Philharmonie this December, as well as "craving your kiss" for large versatile ensemble, featuring an array 53 micro-tonally tuned plastic pois, full winds (including saxophone) and strings, two percussionists and synthesizer. Commissioned by the ACHT BRÜCKEN festival of Cologne and the German Music Council, the concert to be performed by the European Workshop for Contemporary Music, conducted by Rüdiger Bohn, had to be postponed, just like so many others, which is sad but a moderate price to pay though given the severity of the situation and our responsibility to help contain the virus and keep our everyone as safe as possible. I'm looking forward to sharing this music in a hopefully not too distant future and doing my share in contributing to a reviving communal life.
  "Say "Night-ie night" and kiss me / Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me / While I'm alone and blue as can be / Dream a little dream of me" (Gus Kahn)
• New piano piece in the making: A miniature for pianist Hugues Leclère as part of a cycle of Beethoven Bagatelles op. 119 and op. 126, to be premiered at Paris Philharmonie in December 2020! [9/12/2019]
• I'm very glad to be part of Akademie Musiktheater heute of the Deutschen Bank foundation, starting this fall and for the two upcoming years, and thus be able to finally delve deeper into the subject matter of music (and) theatre, to see and hear new things and above all meet lots of interesting new people and their work! Shouts to the Deutsche Bank foundation for this opportunity and the selection commitee for their trust! [12/06/2019]
• The recording of "le vide à perdre" is done! After fun and intense rehearsals in Stuttgart and two days in the studio in Cologne I would like to thank the outstanding ensemble ascolta including Nicholas Kok in the conducting stand and their guests Marco Blauww (prepared trumpet), Andreas Roth (prepared trombone), Benjamin Kobler (synthesizer) and Matthias Schneider (sound direction) as well as sound engineer Stephan Schmidt and his recording team of Deutschlandfunk Radio Cologne. It was a real blast and I'm looking forward to hearing our "electro inferno" (Südwest Presse on 02/07/2017) in a powerful mixdown in the not-too-far-away future! You'll find a bunch of making-of stills here on FB:
  [12/03/2019]

2019

• Very happy and grateful for being selected for a two-months-residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris! Curious and looking forward to returning to inspiring Paris for a longer period of time after many years and under new and different circumstances! [10/31/2019]
• Currently wrapping up a new version of le vide à perdre to get ready for the first recording (@ Deutschlandfunk) for my portrait CD to be released by Edition zeitgenössische Musik/WERGO with the marvelous ensemble ascolta and Nicholas Kok conducting. [10/25/2019]
• Very happy to be able to share the recording of Bellygoat Boom (substrate), just recently premiered by the WDR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Elena Schwarz (at WDR Funkhaus Cologne). Click forward to minute 25 in order to jump right to the beginning, you'll find a direct link here. Enjoy! [10/15/2019]
  "Many ages of groans: till there grew / Branchy forms organizing the Human / Into finite inflexible organs. / ... / Incessant the falling Mind labour’d, / Organizing itself, till the Vacuum / Became element, pliant to rise, / Or to fall, or to swim, or to fly..." (William Blake, The Book of Los)
• Last week saxophonist Takuro Ogawa played two Asian premieres of fuckin'A! at Komatsu City (Ishikawa Prefecture) as well as at the Shanghai New Music Week/2nd Asia Saxophone Congress held at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Feel free to check out his jiggy interpretation from Komatsu City: [09/29/2019]
• Working full throttle on my next piece Bellygoat Boom for the amazing WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestra Elena Schwarz, to be premiered this upcoming October at WDR Funkhaus in Cologne (D). Stay tuned for more info!
  "Bellygoat boom / At ache of / Day bang." (© JK, 1955) [03/19/2019]
• Last week in Madrid, saxophonist Maria Torres Melgares moved on to the finals of the Juventudes Musicales de España wind instruments competition with her very own fierce interpretation of fuckin' A! Congrats María for this success and the beautiful rendition of the piece — everybody else, feel free to check out this impromptu recording her performance and let her bedazzle you with her impetuosity! [03/17/2019]
  

  María Torres Melgares https://t.co/ykDvIyKnCW

  — JMSpain (@JMusicaleSpain) 16. März 2019

• Happy New Year to everyone! After an intense two-month trip across Aotearoa/New Zealand, getting a glimpse at the depths of kaupapa Māori, kapa haka and taonga puoro, I’m back in Cologne and have finally the time to slowly but surely revisit and process the experiences of this journey, the biggest gift being the beautiful encounters and new friendships I have been lucky enough to make along the way, the amazing manākitanga or hospitality I’ve experienced and the humbling beauty and force of the music and dance I’ve been able to witness. A huge thank you to everyone for being part of this journey, making it so special and supporting my endeavor in their trusting and generous manner. Regardless of where it’ll lead me, I’m looking forward to continuing the kōrero and will be holding these memories ever so dear! Shouts out also to the Arts Foundation of Northrhine-Westfalia for making this trip possible. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, mauri ora ki a koutou katoa. [01/26/2019]
• By way of end-of-year review, here's a short interview about the making of my piece "Dance of the Dream Men" that I wrote in 2018 for Slagwerk Den Haag and Gaudeamus Muziekweek. Thanks to Concerto Media for the amazing recording and the Gaudeamus team for their efforts. You'll find a link to the complete recording of the piece in the video description, or simply clickhere. Enjoy! [12/18/2018]

2018

• fuckin' A!! The Video is out!!! Huge thanks to Patrick Stadler for his tireless work, on the music and the editing, and congrats to this beautiful recording! Many thanks also to Kunstgalerie Köln and Evangelos Kouklinos for letting us shoot at their exhibition space. Enjoy! [10.10.2018]
• After two gorgeous weeks at Gaudeamus Muziekweek in Utrecht, here are some words about my music (in English). Thanks to VPRO and Aad van Nieuwkerk for the nice chat! [10/06/2018]
• I'm very happy to have been selected for a portrait CD as part of the series "Edition zeitgenössische Musik" with the CD label WERGO! Thanks to the selection commitee of the German Music Council for their trust and support, I'm looking forward to intense recording sessions and the collaboration with the musicians and the recording team! [05/01/2018]
• Video recording of fuckin' A! with saxophonist Patrick Stadler in the making! Further info coming soon. [04/28/2018]
• The teaser to the nomination for this year's Gaudeamus Award is online! Have fun watching and be invited to coming to Utrecht! [04/25/2018]
• Selected for a one-month residency in September 2018 at Villa Wasmuth near Bonn (Germany). I'm grateful to the hosts, Beethoven-Haus Bonn and the German Academic Foundation, and am looking forward to several weeks of concentrated work as well as the final concert on October 6th! [26/02/2018]

2017

• Selected for ManiFeste Academy 2018 at IRCAM/Paris upcoming June! Looking forward to numerous encounters with composers, dancers, conductors, artists and the musicians of the Ensemble Intercontemporain! [07/12/2017]
• Nominated for the 2018 Gaudeamus Award! Very much looking forward to three performances, including the competition entry Wie ein Stück Fett (Redux) and one world premiere with Slagwerk Den Haag, in September 2018 in Utrecht/Netherlands! For further information, click here. [11/16/2017]
• Commission for a piece for Ensemble Inverspace with concerts in Berlin, Freiburg and Cologne in Summer 2018! Additional info coming soon. [11/06/2017]
• Selected for a one-month residency in July 2019 at Künstlerhaus LUKAS (Ahrenshoop, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern/Germany)! [09/05/2017]
• Commission for a new solo piece for my friend and amazing accordionist Krisztián Palágyi in the making! Premiere scheduled for Spring 2018. [07/22/2017]
• One-week residency at Studio éOle (Toulouse) planned for 2018. [07/07/2017]
• My piece LAL (First Draft) has been published on the album Kurzwelle by ensemble hand werk. Feel free to tune in and download here! [01/04/2017]