Alex Nowitz (*1968) is a vocal performance artist and composer from Germany. He also appears as improviser, sound artist and musician and, furthermore, works as artist-researcher, author and curator. His compositions comprise vocal and instrumental chamber music, full-length operas, orchestral pieces, electro-acoustic music, multimedia formats, music for dance and spoken theatre.
As vocal performance artist, starting in the late 1980ies, Alex shares the stage with a great number of musicians, with vocalists as well as with dancers and actors. The most recent projects include a duet aNo with Antonis Anissegos (GR, pno), another one called KNEER & NOWITZ with Meinrad Kneer (DE, db), BLONOVO with Sabine Vogel (DE, fl) & Frédéric Blondy (FR, pno), MASUAL with Sukandar Kartadinata (DE, egit/elec) & Matthias Bauer (DE, db), KLANGPAKT with Christine Paté (Fr, acc), Matthias Badczong (DE, cl) & M. Bauer (DE, db) or OPERADICALS with Tone Åse (NO, voc/elec), Franziska Baumann (CH, voc/elec) & Sten Sandell (SE, pno/voc).
As composer-performer he presents extended vocal performance art often applying custom, gesture-controlled live electronics, most notably the ‘strophonion’ developed and built at STEIM, Amsterdam and further developed by Berlin-based programmer, instrument builder and guitar player Sukandar Kartadinata. The usage of wireless technology allows Alex to move about freely onstage and thus become a ‘sound dancer.’ Both in his vocal performance art and in his compositions dedicated to others he explores the notion of multivocality. In 2019, from the Stockholm University of the Arts, Alex Nowitz was awarded a doctoral degree in ‘Performative and Mediated Practices with Specialisation in Opera.’
Initiated in 2021 in Potsdam and Berlin, Alex curates the biennial DESIGNING VOICES, an international festival for vocal performance art, sound & music, inviting vocal performance artists presenting an extended practice by applying live electronics or juxtaposing the voice with objects and musical instruments. The new edition titled “Klangsinne” [senses for sound] takes place in October 2025 at the fabrik and the Französische Kirche, both Potsdam, Germany.
As composer Alex has created numerous chamber music pieces for ensembles, such as Curious Chamber Players Stockholm or Ensemble Mosaik Berlin, as well as operas for the Staatstheater Braunschweig or the Theater Osnabrück. More recent compositions include two orchestral works, a chamber music quartet including the strophonion and a 40-min. outdoor performance for two cellos and three instrumentalists operating/playing garden tools:
• In 2021 the Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg recorded the study for large orchestra “Ich bin das Volk” [I am the people] conducted by Christian Köhler, which was released as part of the CD “Brandenburg – NEUE MUSIK orchestral” a compilation of contemporary composers from Brandenburg.
• In 2022, conducted by Antonello Manacorda, the Kammerakademie Potsdam commissioned and premiered his work for orchestra and smartphones “Vom Glühen der Glut” [On the glowing of the embers].
• In 2024 “Die erweiterte Kammer” [The expanded chamber] for voice, live electronics (strophonion), clarinet, accordion and double bass was performed and premiered by the ensemble KLANGPAKT [sound agreement], consisting of Christine Paté (DE, accordion, voice), Matthias Badczong (DE, clarinet, voice), Matthias Bauer (double bass, voice) & Alex Nowitz (voice, strophonion), at the St. Matthäus-Kirche Berlin.
• In 2025 “bbrrmm: Eine Klangutopie auf dem Land” [bbrrmm: A sounding utopia in the countryside, for two cellos and three nature dominating instruments (lawnmower, chainsaw and scythe)] was premiered by Mathis Mayr (DE, vlc) and Sophie Notte (DE, vlc.) together with three musicians from the village playing garden tools at the Paretzer Field Music curated by flautist and sound artist Sabine Vogel.
In 2022 Alex was fellow at the Villa Aurora, Los Angeles, during which, together with Sabine Vogel, they video recorded both of their solo performances in the Californian desert of the Death Valley to become part of a 30-minute composition called “Doubles and Drones from the Desert” for alto flute/piccolo, voice and strophonion, premiered in Nov. 2022 by flautist and Stockhausen specialist Katrin Plümer and Alex himself.
Since 1994 Alex received numerous artist residencies, grants, awards and fellowships, such as the ECPNM/ISCM Gothenburg (SE), Banff Arts Center (CAN), Else-Heiliger-Fonds der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (DE), Cité International des Arts Paris (FR), Schloss Wiepersdorf Brandenburg (DE). In 2023 he received the fellowship Arbeitspaket-Stipendium 2023 awarded by the Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of the Land Brandenburg, Germany.
Website Alex Nowitz
vimeo
soundcloud
Designing Voices Festival