Martin Kohlstedt (DE)
From Breitenworbis
Popularity
Martin Kohlstedt has one upcoming show in the Netherlands: on November 16, 2026 at TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht.
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About
Martin Kohlstedt treats composition more like a living language than a fixed score. The German pianist and producer, originally from Breitenworbis, builds what he calls modular pieces: self contained musical units that can be recombined, retempoised, or handed to entirely different instruments depending on the moment. His solo piano albums Tag and Nacht introduced that vocabulary, while Strom brought in synthesizers and electronics, and the 2019 project Ströme handed those same modules to a 70 person choir at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, creating what he described as one completely new instrument. The Daily Telegraph, reviewing his London debut, noted that his repetitive patterns and modal harmonies nod toward Sakamoto and Einaudi, but singled out an undercurrent of anxiety as what sets him apart. He has performed at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, SXSW, the Russian State Library in Moscow, and the Talar e Rudaki in Tehran. His 2020 album Flur added fresh vocabulary to the modular system, and the same year a series of reworks called RECURRENTS saw collaborators including Sudan Archives, Henrik Schwarz, and Robag Wruhme reshape the Ströme material all over again.
