Andrea Neumann is a German performing musician and composer. Andrea Neumann plays the "indoor piano", a modified piano of her own design.

Life

Neumann studied piano at the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

. She has been a member of the Berlin improvisation scene since 1995. Since 2000, she has been a co-organizer and curator for the ''Labor Sonor'' series for experimental music, film and performance in Berlin. In 2008 she was a fellow at the

Villa Aurora The Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, has been an artists' residence since 1995. It is the former home of the German Jewish author Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. The Feuchtwangers bought this Spanish-style ...

in Los Angeles. In 2008 she received an award from

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria ...

for the Video Performance of ''Videobrücke Berlin – Stockholm (5 Punkt 1)'' along with Sabine Ercklentz.

Music

Neumann plays on an "indoor piano" made for her by the piano maker Bernd Bittmann. Inspired by

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard har ...

' prepared harp, she designed the indoor piano to consist of only the soundboard and the strings. She prepares the piano with everyday objects, such as cutlery, razors, or a potato masher. Since the indoor piano does not have

keys Key, Keys, The Key or The Keys may refer to: Common uses * Key (cryptography), a piece of information needed to encode or decode a message * Key (instrument), a component of a musical instrument * Key (lock), a device used to operate a lock * ...

, it is played not only with fingers but also with various types of

drum stick A drum stick (or drumstick) is a type of percussion mallet used particularly for playing snare drum, drum kit, and some other percussion instruments, and particularly for playing unpitched percussion. Specialized beaters used on some other pe ...

s, and violin bows. The instrument also incorporates a metal shelf and a mixer. The sounds are recorded with

contact microphone A contact microphone is a form of microphone that senses audio vibrations through contact with solid objects. Unlike normal air microphones, contact microphones are almost completely insensitive to air vibrations but transduce only structure-bor ...

s and

guitar pickup A pickup is an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another that captures or senses mechanical vibrations produced by musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, and converts these t ...

s. The amplification of the instrument is adjusted during the performance. In 2005 Neumann co-founded the artist collective ''Les Femmes Savantes''. The collective calls itself a "composer-performer ensemble"; other members are Sabine Ercklentz, Ute Wassermann and Ana Maria Rodriguez. In addition to compositions by the other members of ''Les Femmes Savantes'', she also recorded works by

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

George Brecht George Brecht (August 27, 1926 – December 5, 2008), born George Ellis MacDiarmid, was an American conceptual artist and avant-garde composer, as well as a professional chemist who worked as a consultant for companies including Pfizer, Johnso ...

, Heather Frasch, Robin Hayward,

Phill Niblock Phillip Earl Niblock (October 2, 1933 – January 8, 2024) was an American composer, filmmaker, and videographer. In 1985, he was appointed director of Experimental Intermedia,Alan Licht, ''Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Music ...

, and Chiyoko Szlavnics. Neumann has also worked with musicians such as

Burkhard Beins Burkhard Beins (born 1964 in Lower Saxony, West Germany) is a German composer/performer who works with percussion, selected objects and electronics. Living in Berlin since 1995, Beins is active in experimental music and electroacoustic improvis ...

Axel Dörner Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German trumpeter, pianist, and composer. Biography Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988–89) and at the Cologne University of Music, Music Academy in Cologne (1989– ...

, Sabine Ercklentz, Annette Krebs, Ana Maria Rodriguez and Ignaz Schick.

Works

* ''4 Akteure'', 2007 * ''Erosion'', 2012 * ''Rencontre 2'' for

glissando In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a wikt:glide, glide from one pitch (music), pitch to another (). It is an Italianized Musical terminology, musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In ...

flute and mixer feedback, 2013 * ''drehwurm'', 2016 (in collaboration with Sabine Ercklentz) Prepared_piano_board_Neumann

, Andrea Neumann,

Sven-Åke Johansson Sven-Åke Johansson (1943 – 15 June 2025) was a Swedish composer, drummer, poet, author and visual artist associated with European free jazz and free improvisation. He was born in Mariestad and lived in Berlin from 1968 onwards. Johansson was ...

''Barcelona Series'' (

hatOLOGY Hathut Records is a Swiss record company and label founded by Werner Xavier Uehlinger in 1974 that specializes in jazz and classical music. The name of the label comes from the artwork of Klaus Baumgartner. Hathut encompasses the labels hat ART, ...

2000) * Andrea Neumann, Toshimaru Nakamura ''ATØN'' (Rossbin 2001) * Ignaz Schick, Andrea Neumann ''Petit Pale'' (Zarek 2001) * Andrea Neumann, Annette Krebs ''Rotophormen'' (Charhizma 2001) * Andrea Neumann, Burkhard Beins ''Lidingö'' (Erstwhile Records 2002) * Kaffe Matthews, Andrea Neumann,

Sachiko M Sachiko Matsubara (Japanese: 松原幸子; born 1973), better known by her stage name Sachiko M, is a Japanese musician. Her first solo album, ''Sine Wave Solo'', was released in 1999. Working in collaboration with Ami Yoshida under the name Cosm ...

''In Case of Fire Take the Stairs'' (Improvised Music From Japan 2002) * Sabine Ercklentz, Andrea Neumann ''Oberflächenspannung'' (Charhizma 2003) * Axel Dörner, Greg Kelley, Andrea Neumann, Bhob Rainey ''Thanks, Cash'' (Sedimental 2004) * Andrea Neumann & Ivan Palacký ''Pappeltalks'' (Uceroz 2009) * Sabine Ercklentz, Andrea Neumann ''LAlienation'' (Herbal International 2010) * Sophie Agnel, Bertrand Gauguet, Andrea Neumann ''Spiral Inputs'' (Another Timbre 2011) * Klaus Filip, Toshimaru Nakamura, Andrea Neumann, Ivan Palacký ''Messier Objects'' (Meenna 2012) * Martin Tétreault, Andrea Neumann ''Live in St Henri'' (The Dim Coast 2012) * Sven-Åke Johansson, Andrea Neumann, Axel Dörner ''Große Gartenbauausstellung'' (Olof Bright 2012) * Andrea Neumann, Bonnie Jones ''Green Just As I Could See'' (Erstwhile Records 2012) * Duo Vertex, Axel Dörner, Andrea Neumann ''Sustain Ability'' (Gigafon 2015) * Andrea Neumann, Sharif Sehnaoui, Michael Thieke, Michael Vorfeld ''Nashaz'' (Al Maslakh 2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Andrea 1968 births Living people German women pianists Berlin University of the Arts alumni