. Works
Robo Tins (2021) - for robots, tins and trumpet
recorded February 13th 2022 at Künstlerhaus Faktor in Hamburg
concept, music and performance: Birgit Ulher video
sound and editing: Andrew Levine
programming: Gunnar Lettow / light: Olaf Scheller
Matter Matters - How to Get Away
- Public Transport (2019) for trumpet & record runner
- video: How to Get Away by Car
- Radio Drone (2019) for trumpet, radios, speaker & voice changer
- Robo 42 (2021) for trumpet and moving tins
- video: Wanderlust
recorded September 10th 2021 at Westwerk in Hamburg
concept, compositions and videos by Birgit Ulher
a/v Lémuel Grave, editing Andrew Levine
Bell Miners Bridge
Bell Miners Bridge - for trumpet, radio, speaker and objects (2021) by Birgit Ulher
commissioned and supported by FONT Festival of New Trumpet Music N.Y.
recording and editing by Andrew Levine
Flotsam & Jetsam
sound installation by Birgit Ulher
video and audio: Birgit Ulher
editing: Andrew Levine
technical assistance: Gunnar Lettow
with friendly support of Dorit & Alexander Otto Stiftung and Hamburgische Kulturstiftung
Wanderlust
Wanderlust Trailer (2021) by Birgit Ulher
editing: Andrew Levine
technical assistance: Gunnar Lettow
with friendly support of Musikfonds
How to get away ...
How to get away #1 and #2 (2020) for sheet metal plates and objects
How to get away by car (2020) for sheet metal plates and toy car
sound installation / recorded in May, June and July of 2020 in Hamburg
video and sound by Birgit Ulher / editing by Andrew Levine
these videos were made possible through funding Hamburgische Kulturstiftung
as part of the project: Kunst kennt keinen Shutdown
 How to get away by car (2020) |
 How to get away I (2020) |
 How to get away II (2020) |
Public Transport - for trumpet and record runner (2019)
In Public Transport, two LPs featuring noises from record players were recorded. Each is played by a record runner and functions as tape music for the trumpet voice. The record players are generating and reproducing sounds simultaneously.
vimeo.com/372844962/
Proportions (2016)
Proportions was developed during my stay at AIR Mexico / GIS Studio in Mexiko City. The piece is based on measurements of a room at AIR Mexico, an old house in the northern part of Mexico City. The measurements are transformed into durations and represent the proportions of the room. The graphic score was directly written on the walls and is part of the audiovisual piece.
vimeo.com/194782133
auditionrecords.com/air15.php
auditionrecords.com/art_026.php
Traces - for trumpet, radio, speaker, objects and tape (2014)
Traces - for trumpet, radio, speaker, objects and tape (2014) takes its origin from environmental measurements of the Chicago and Elbe rivers. It was originally commissioned by the Goethe Institut in Chicago as part of the light- and sound installation Flow by Luftwerk, which was shown in Chicago 2014. Data is derived from the rivers’ oxygen, nitrate, phosphate and e.coli contents, each of which is assigned a material like marbles, tins or whire wisks. The lengths of the sounds and rests are a direct re-presentation of the measurements.
light- and sound installation Flow by Luftwerk and Birgit Ulher
Traces Chicago, Goethe Institut Mexico
splitting21 for trumpet, splitter and tape by Michael Maierhof and Birgit Ulher (2011-13)
This is the first compositional collaboration by Michael Maierhof and Birgit Ulher. They work together in improvised contexts since many years like the trio Nordzucker together with Chris Heenan or the stark bewölkt quartet with Gregory Büttner
and Heiner Metzger. For splitting 21 Maierhof provided a 'splitter' and the concept of splitting the trumpet tone in combination with the tape, which enlarges the 10 Min piece into the orchestral. The trumpet voice is developed by Ulher, who works on splitting the trumpet tone by metal sheets for many years. The piece was premiered 2015 at katarakt festival in Hamburg.
Radio Silence No More at Tsonami Festival in Valparaiso, Chile
Granular Fields for trumpet and computer by Jacob Sello and Birgit Ulher (2008)
Together with Jacob Sello I developed the piece 'Granular Fields', where my trumpet sounds are the basic material of a digital environment developed by Sello on the basis of the Granular Synthesis which I can regulate by wii controller. The software reacts by sensors which are fixed on the trumpet, the sounds are aliented and distributed in the space. The trumpet sounds are split into smallest particles (so-called grains) and put together in a new way. The Granular Synthesis functions in a similar way like sampling, except that the samples aren't just repeated but split into grains and alienated. Thus a dialogue between computer and trumpet comes into being.
Reveille (2007)
An example for my work with visual artists is the conceptual work 'Reveille' for 'Wake Up' by Allora & Calzadilla which was presented at The Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, the Walter and McBean Galerie at San Francisco Art Institut, the Serpentine Gallery in London, Kunsthalle Zürich and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
The two artists have comissioned 10 trumpeters worldwide to interprete the buggle call Reveille, which is the signal for starting the military day. The music of the installation is played via a dozen speakers which are placed at the corridors criss-crossing the gallery. The lightsystem gets its signals from the music and is gradually dimmed or lightened by its amplitude.
My interpretation is a deconstruction of the buggle call, the concept is based on the four tone pitches and durations of the signal represented by four different colours. I transformed the sixteenth, eights, quarter and half notes into durations from 2.5 until 15 seconds, thus turning the 20 second signal into a 16 minute piece. Each sound is followed by a silence of the same length as the note. The result is a very abstract piece which doesn't remind at all on the actual signal.
renaissancesociety.org
Wake Up by Allory & Calzadilla
Featuring new compositions by trumpeters: Jaimie Branch (USA), Stephen Burns (USA), Dennis Gonzalez (USA),
Franz Hautzinger (Austria), Ingrid Jensen (USA), Leonel Kaplan (Argentina), Mazen Kerbaj (Lebanon), Paul Smoker (USA), Natsuki Tamura (Japan), Birgit Ulher (Germany)