Michael Schumacher

Michael J. Schumacher is a composer, performer and installation artist based in New York City. He works predominantly with electronic and digital media, specializing in computer generated sound environments which evolve continuously for long time periods. His “Living Room Pieces” is permanently installed in an apartment at the Chelsea Hotel, runnning 24 hours/day, continuously generating new forms. XI Records has just published a set of five sound installations as computer applications, playable on up to eight speakers, which may be installed on a computer to create sound environments in the home. Schumacher’s composition “Grid”, a computer generated score that unfolds in real time, was part of the exhibition “Between Thought and Sound” at the Kitchen.

Since 1996, Schumacher has pioneered, first at his downtown gallery Studio Five Beekman and, since 2000, at Diapason Gallery located in midtown, sound art in New York City, by giving over 150 artists the opportunity to present, in environments with high quality multi-channel sound systems and free of outside noise, cutting edge installations with sound as their focus. He has produced premieres by David Behrman, David First, Tetsu Inoue, Ron Kuivila, Steve Roden, Marina Rosenfeld and Stephen Vitiello, to name a few. A complete listing of past presentations and upcoming events is viewable online at www.diapasongallery.org.

In August 2007 Schumacher and Nisi Jacobs began DRAW, an audio-video performance group. Joined by Tim Keiper, Alex Waterman, Bruce Andrews and others, they create immersive live sets based on collaborative compositions. DRAW’s website is http://drawnyc.com.

Schumacher has lectured at Bard College, The New School, The School for Visual Arts and Juilliard. He has taught piano, composition, theory and ear training privately since 1983. He currently teaches at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn.