Bio/CV

Hans Tammen creates sounds that have been described as an alien world of bizarre textures and a journey through the land of unending sonic operations. He produces rapid-fire juxtapositions of radically contrastive and fascinating noises, with micropolyphonic timbres and textures, aggressive sonic eruptions, but also quiet pulses and barely audible sounds – through means of his “Endangered Guitar” and interactive software programming, by working with the room itself, and, as a critic observed, with his “…fingers stuck in a high voltage outlet”. Signal To Noise called his works “…a killer tour de force of post-everything guitar damage”, All Music Guide recommended him: “…clearly one of the best experimental guitarists to come forward during the 1990s.”

Photo: Ashok Mehta

His numerous projects include site-specific performances and collaborative efforts with dance, light, video, and theatre, utilizing technology from planetarium projectors to guitar robots and disklavier pianos. He received a Fellowship from the New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) in the category Digital/Electronic Arts in 2009 for the ”Endangered Guitar” – a hybrid guitar/software instrument used to control interactive live sound processing.

His THIRD EYE ORCHESTRA open form compositions for large ensembles and live sound processing, or laptop/electronic ensembles, are inspired by Earle Brown’s Available Forms, and based on numerous scored “building blocks” that are constantly rearranged when performed.

His works have been presented on festivals in the US, Canada, Mexico, Russia, India and all over Europe. He recorded on labels such as Innova, ESP-DISK, Nur/Nicht/Nur, Creative Sources, Leo Records, Potlatch, Cadence, and Hybrid.

Grants & Awards

• 2011 Travel grant from the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center, to present a new multichannel work “Epigenesis” at Earzoom festival in Ljubljana
• 2011 Residency at Diapason Gallery to produce “Epigenesis”, a new multichannel Endangered Guitar work
• 2010 Chamber Music Americ French-American Jazz Exchange Grant, for a joint ensemble of French and American performers
• 2009 Fellow in Digital/Electronic Arts from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), for the Endangered Guitar
• 2009 Composer’s Commission from NYSCA (Third Eye Orchestra)
• 2009 Travel grant from Foundation For Contemporary Arts, to present a commissioned work at Minimal Music Festival, Germany
• 2008 Composer’s commission from American Composers Forum, underwritten by Jerome Foundation (Third Eye Orchestra)
• 2004 Residency for the Shadow Puppies (with Nick Didkovsky & Kurt Ralske) at iEAR Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, to compose for the LEMUR GuitarBots, 2004
• 2002 Residency at Engine 27, to compose for the 16-channel sound system
• 1999 City of Kassel Zippel Foundation Award for composer’s collective QNH (together with Michael Vorfeld & Martin Speicher)
• 1997 Grant from the city of Kassel and Kasseler Sparkasse (Bank) to fund the light & music performance ART-I-FICTION at city program of documenta X at the Kassel Planetarium, including the use of the planetarium projector
• 1992 Grant from the city of Kassel to fund a 10 piece orchestra comprised of musicians from Kassel and Moscow
• 1992 Grant from the city of Kassel to fund a 6 piece ensemble comprised of musicians from Kassel, Kasachstan and Siberia

Workshops & Lectures

Workshops about performance techniques, improvisational and compositional concepts, and technical presentations. Recent activities: UdK, Berlin, Germany; Oberlin College (Ohio), Cleveland State University (Ohio), Akron Art Museum (Ohio); CeC Bhimtal (India), New Instruments for Improvisation and Experimental Aproaches Symposium, (New York), Ramapo College (New Jersey), Hyperimprovisation Symposium, Oslo (Norway), Concordia University, Montreal (Canada), Giessen University (Germany), New Interfaces For Musical Expression Conference (NIME), Bennington College, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore), New York University, School of Visual Arts (NYC), Parsons School of Design (NYC), Brooklyn College (NYC), Temple University (Philadelphia), Interactive Technology Program at NYU (ITP NYC), Hartt School of Music (Hartford), University of Hannover (Germany), Net_User 05 conference (Bulgaria); Transitio_MX festival in Mexico City, DorkBot Bern & Basel (Switzerland), Hartwick College Oneonta NY, SUNY Fredonia NY, Stonybrook University NY, Rensselear Polytechic Institute, Troy NY.