Download: David_Moss_Bios/Vs_2022.pdf
Bio – English
Drumming and singing have shaped David Moss’ musical life. First his father’s drums, then Bertoia sound sculptures and duets with dancer Steve Paxton, later singing with the Berlin Philharmonic, and at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Salzburg Festival.
In 2018, he received the German Music Authors Award for experimental voice and performed in Olga Neuwirth’s opera Lost Highway and Frank Zappa’s Yellow Shark at the Venice Biennale, among others. In 2019, he premiered as baritone soloist in Xenakis’ ÄIS at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. He has been the vocal soloist in Heiner Goebbels’ orchestral work, Surrogate Cities, for more than 50 performances around the world. He works with sound artist Boris Hegenbart. Moss has received the Guggenheim and DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellowships and directs the Institute for Living Voice. He has performed works by Johann and Richard Strauss, Bach, Coltrane, and Gershwin, as well as Luciano Berio, Carla Bley, Uri Caine, and Helmut Oehring. He currently sings with the groove trio Denseland and performs the solo program Vox Paradiso.
David Moss has lived in Berlin since 1991.
Bio – Deutsch
Trommeln und Singen haben das musikalische Leben von David Moss geprägt. Erst das Schlagzeug seines Vaters, dann Bertoia-Klangskulpturen und Duette mit dem Tänzer Steve Paxton, später Gesang mit den Berliner Philharmonikern, im Lincoln Center, der Carnegie Hall und den Salzburger Festspielen.
2018 erhielt er den Deutschen Musikautorenpreis für experimentellen Gesang und trat unter anderem in Olga Neuwirths Oper Lost Highway und Frank Zappas Yellow Shark auf der Biennale von Venedig auf. 2019 wird er als Baritonsolist in Xenakis’ ÄIS in der Elbphilharmonie Hamburg uraufgeführt. Als Gesangssolist in Heiner Goebbels’ Orchesterwerk Surrogate Cities war er bei mehr als 50 Aufführungen in aller Welt zu hören. Er arbeitet mit dem Klangkünstler Boris Hegenbart zusammen. Moss erhielt das Guggenheim- und das DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Stipendium und leitet das Institute for Living Voice. Er hat Werke von Johann und Richard Strauss, Bach, Coltrane und Gershwin sowie von Luciano Berio, Carla Bley, Uri Caine und Helmut Oehring aufgeführt. Derzeit singt er mit dem Groove-Trio Denseland und tritt mit dem Soloprogramm Vox Paradiso auf.
David Moss lebt seit 1991 in Berlin.
CV (very short form)
David M. Moss performer / vocalist
Born: 1949 Resident of Berlin, Germany since October 1991
Education: 1970: BA Russian History (Trinity College)
Musical Education:
1972-2020: voice/self-taught
1971-73: composition student of Bill Dixon, Bennington College
1970: studied with Tanjore Ranganathan (S.Indian drumming), Wesleyan Univ.
1963-68: studied percussion at Hartt College of Music, Hartford, USA
Performance History (edited):
1994-2020: curator of festivals and performance projects
1999 / 2001: one of the first experimental singers to perform at Salzburg Festival
1991-2022: collaborations with Heiner Goebbels, Fred Pommerehn, Sam Auinger
1986-2022: performer and singer in operas, music-theater and theater
1973-2022: Over 750 solo concerts, 4200 ensemble concerts; theater pieces and orchestra-works around the world
Prizes/Recognition:
2018: German Music Authors’ Prize for experimental voice
2015: member of selection panel for the Aarhus Cultural Capitol: in Sound Art
2013: Keynote Speaker, Festival 500, Newfoundland, Canada
2008-9 & 2018: Fellow, International Research Center „Interweaving Performance Cultures“, FU, Berlin
1991-92: residency in Berlin with the Berlin Artists Program grant of the DAAD
1991: Guggenheim Fellowship
Current & Recent Positions:
2001-2022:
-Co-founder & artistic director, Institute for Living Voice, Berlin
2010-2022:
-Workshop leader: Music Academy of Venice Biennale
-Co-teacher, Institute for Performative, FU, Berlin; w. Prof. Clemens Risi: „Voice, Body, Performance“
-Collaborations in Sound Art with Sam Auinger
-Collaborations with: Tempo Reale, music technology center, Florence, Italy
2012-14: artistic director, MADE Festival, NorrlandsOperan, Umeå, Sweden
2009-2012: advisor to the Umeå Cultural Capital Committee