Iris ter Schiphorst is a composer, performer and author. Her approach to composition and her understanding of music have been strongly shaped by her extensive experience as a musician – first as a classical pianist, and later as a bass player, drummer, keyboardist and sound engineer in a wide range of rock and pop formations. Today, she is considered one of the defining voices of contemporary music. Her catalogue includes works across a wide range of genres, including thirteen orchestral works, several full-length music theater pieces and various film scores premiered by renowned ensembles in Germany and abroad. Emerging from her early engagement with electronic music, sampling and collective modes of production — including as co-founder of the electroacoustic ensemble »intrors« — she developed a distinctive musical language that seamlessly connects analog and digital sound worlds as well as aesthetic, performative and discursive dimensions. Her compositions often respond to socio-political themes. Numerous awards have recognized her continuously experimental practice, including the German Music Authors’ Prize, the prestigious Heidelberg Künstlerinnenpreis and a nomination for the Prix Italia. Since 2013, Iris ter Schiphorst has been a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, where she was elected in 2023 to a second term as deputy director of the Music Section. From 2015 to 2022, she taught as a Professor of Media Composition at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

www.iris-ter-schiphorst.de/media

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