Martin Kohlstedt

Born in 1988 in Breitenworbis, Thuringia and based in Weimar, Martin Kohlstedt has since the early 2010s developed a body of work at the crossroads of contemporary piano, ambient, electronics and music for image. His approach relies on modular elements that he assembles and transforms into concert works, giving his pieces an open form that sits between writing, improvisation and timbral variation. After the albums Tag (2012) and Nacht (2014), focused on the piano, Kohlstedt broadened his palette with Strom (2017), then returned to a more acoustic clarity on Flur (2020). Feld (2023) extends this dialogue between electronic textures, discreet pulsation and neoclassical writing, while Live (2024) documents this moving live practice. Parallel to his solo career, Kohlstedt has worked with the GewandhausChor of Leipzig on Ströme (2019), and also composes for cinema, theatre and interdisciplinary projects. Having passed through several groups on the Erfurt scene before dedicating himself to his solo project, he performs in concert halls as well as at festivals across Europe and beyond, with a musical language where the piano remains the anchor of flexible sound architectures, often meditative yet threaded with rhythmic tension.