Alex Nowitz

His vocal, instrumental, and electroacoustic music includes chamber music pieces, orchestral miniatures, full-length operas, installation concerts, and music for dance and spoken theatre. Classically trained as a tenor in Germany and the USA, he appears also as a countertenor, whistling virtuoso, and performance artist applying a variety of extended vocal techniques and collaborating with a number of composers, musicians, and vocal performers on the international stage. Nowitz has developed a series of solo formats using custom, gesture-controlled live electronics developed at STEIM in Amsterdam, most notably the strophonion, and presents them at a large number of internationally renowned festivals, such as Warsaw Autumn, Club Transmediale Berlin, 100 jahre bauhaus at the Academy of Arts Berlin, or Alte Oper Frankfurt. In April 2019 he received a PhD in performative and mediated practices with specialisation in opera from the Stockholm University of the Arts. For his work, since 1994 he has received numerous awards, residencies, and grants, such as the First Prize of the ECPNM at the ISCM Gothenburg (SE), Banff Arts Center (CAN), Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (DE), Cité International des Arts Paris (FR), Schloss Wiepersdorf Brandenburg (DE), Villa Aurora Los Angeles (US). In 2023 he was awarded the Arbeitspaket-Stipendium by the Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of the State Brandenburg (DE). Furthermore, his projects were funded by the Musikfonds e.V. Berlin, including the biennial International Festival for Vocal Performance Art, Sound & Music DESIGNING VOICES in Potsdam.
nowitz.de.

___________________
Extended biography

The works by Alex Nowitz comprise two full-length operas, orchestral pieces, vocal and instrumental chamber music, electronic and electroacoustic music, multimedia works, music for dance and spoken theatre, as well as sound poetry and text-based compositions.

In April 2022, celebrating its 20-year existence, the Kammerakademie Potsdam (KAP) commissioned and premiered Vom Glühen der Glut [On the glowing of the embers] for orchestra and smartphones, conducted by Antonello Manacorda and recorded by the radio rbbKultur. In 2021, conducted by Christian Köhler, the Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg (DFOB) recorded the study for large orchestra Ich bin das Volk [I am the people] released on CD in 2023 by the Brandenburgischer Verein für Neue Musik (bvnm).

As composer he also worked with ensembles, such as Kairos Quartett Berlin, sonic.art Saxophonquartett Berlin, mosaik Berlin, Curious Chamber Players Stockholm, work-in-progress Berlin, or the Landespolizeiorchester Brandenburg, and collaborated with conductors, such as Sebastian Beckedorf (Staatstheater Braunschweig, 2013) or Hermann Bäumer (Theater Osnabrück, 2006), et al.

Directors including choreographers that he worked with are David Hermann (Staatstheater Braunschweig, 2013), Thomas Ostermeier (Schaubühne Berlin, 2008/06), Immo Karaman (Theater Osnabrück, 2006), Adriana Altaras (Magazin der Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin, 2006), Constanza Macras (Schaubühne Berlin, 2006), Marie-José Chartier (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Toronto/CP & fabrik Potsdam/WP, 2004), Horst Joachim Lonius (Puppentheater Halle, 1999), et al.

As vocal performance artist Alex Nowitz presents solo works for voice with and without gesture-controlled live electroncis on the international stage, such as the Festival Fri Resonans Trondheim, The Unwrinkled Ear Los Angeles, VoxLAB Oslo, 100 years Bauhaus Berlin, Audio Arts Krakow, STEIM's sound triangle Seoul, Warsaw Autumn, Club Transmediale Berlin, Musica Viva/MISO Lisbon, NIME Oslo, Who’s Afraid Of The Modern Opera? De Player/Operadagen Rotterdam, Fresh Sound Music Series/UC San Diego, Multiplace Festival Bratislava, Novembermusic s'Hertogenbosch, Night of the Unexpected Gaudeamus Week Amsterdam, Jauna Musica Vilnius, Schaubühne Berlin, et al.

Starting in ca. 1989, Alex Nowitz shares the stage with numerous musicians, vocalists as well as with dancers and actors. The most recent projects include the ensemble KLANGPAKT with Christine Paté (FR/DE, acc), Matthias Badczong (DE, cl) & Matthias Bauer (DE, db), the duet aNo with Antonis Anissegos (GR, pno), the trio MASUAL with Sukandar Kartadinata (DE, e-git/electr) & Matthias Bauer (DE, db), the duet Fffft! with Sabine Vogel (DE, fl) and also with her the trio BLONOVO together with Frédéric Blondy (FR, pno), a duet with Michael Wollny (DE, pno) and also with him the Goldberg-Tangenten trio together with Leafcutter John (UK, electr), the quartet operadicals with Tone Åse (NO, voc/electr), Franziska Baumann (CH, voc/electr) & Sten Sandell (SE, pno/voc), et al.

As composer-performer Alex Nowitz presents extended vocal performance art often applying custom, wireless and gesture-controlled live electronics, that is, the strophonion, allowing him to move about freely onstage and thus realising the concept of a highly interdisciplinary practice that he calls 'sound dance.' The strophonion has been developed during a 2-year residency, from 2010 through to 2011, at STEIM (STudio for Electro-Instrumental Music) in Amsterdam. Starting in 2014 until the present day, with regard to both the software and hardware design, Berlin-based instrument maker and guitar player Sukandar Kartadinata takes care of maintenance and further development of the strophonion.

Both in his vocal performance art and in his compositions dedicated to others, he explores the notion of multivocality. In 2019 he was awarded the doctoral degree in Performative and Mediated Practices for his dissertation called "Monsters I Love: On multivocal arts" published as part of the Research Catalogue in Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH) (2019). The documented artistic research project features a number of essays together with audio and video material of either studio productions or live performances as well as scores and program notes, and was awarded the doctoral degree in 'Performative and Mediated Practices with Specialisation in Opera' by the Stockholm University of the Arts.

After studying music at the LMU Munich, TU Berlin, SUNY Potsdam (USA), and graduating with honours at the Potsdam University (DE), he received numerous artist residencies, grants, awards and fellowships, such as the 1st ECPNM prize/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), et al. Since 2022 Alex Nowitz is also allumnus of the Villa Aurora, Los Angeles. In 2023 he was awarded the Arbeitspaket-Stipendium 2023 by the Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of the Land Brandenburg (DE), and receives fundings for several porjects by the Musikfonds e.V. Berlin.

Since 2008 Alex Nowitz publishes essays and articles written either in German or English. For example, exploring the philosophical potential of extended vocal performance art, he composed the chapter with the title "Assemblages of Multivocal and Schizophonic Practices: Unleashing the machined voice" published in Machinic Assemblages of Desire. Deleuze and Artistic Research 3 (Orpheus Institute Ghent), edited by Paolo de Assis & Paolo Giudici (Leuven University Press, 2021).

Since its inception in 2021 taking place in both Potsdam and Berlin, Alex Nowitz curates the International Festival for Vocal Performance Art, Sound & Music DESIGNING VOICES presenting the variety of contemporary vocal performance art in different contexts. The second edition in 2023 was titled Vokalaktionen [vocal actions] and took place in Potsdam and Paretz (Brandenburg, Germany). The most recent edition, a 4-day festival in October 2025 at the museum Fluxus+, fabrik and the Französische Kirche, all of which are located in Potsdam, proposed an extended way of sensing and listening and was titled Klangsinne [senses for sound]. Accompanied by a 4-day workshop by Mark van Tongeren conveying experimental and traditional practices of overtone singing and addressing questions of resonance, the festival DESIGNING VOICES 2025 provided eight concert performances including four world premieres, two of which were commissioned by the festival, featured 20 artists from Germany and abroad (AU, FR, IT, NL/TW, PT, RU, SE), and was funded by the Musikfonds e.V. and the Ministry for Science, Research and Culture of the Land Brandenburg, Germany

Currently Alex Nowitz lives in Potsdam. Most recently, he has been elected onto the board of the Brandenburgian Association for New Music (bvnm).

(Status: August 2026)