Irmin Schmidt

Irmin Schmidt 1972. Photograph by Heinrich Klaffs.

Irmin Schmidt (born 29 May 1937 in Berlin) is a German keyboard player and composer, best known as a founding member of the band Can.

Biography

Schmidt studied music at the conservatorium in Dortmund, at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and he studied composition in Karlheinz Stockhausen's Cologne Courses for New Music at the Rheinische Musikschule, Cologne.

He started work mainly as a conductor and performed in concerts with the Bochum Symphony, the Vienna Symphony and the Dortmund Ensemble for New Music, which he founded in 1962. During this time he received several conducting awards. Schmidt also worked as Kapellmeister at the Theater Aachen, as docent for Musical theatre and chanson at the Drama school Bochum, and as concert pianist.

In 1968 Schmidt founded with Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit the experimental krautrock band Can. He has written the music to more than 40 films and television programs.

Schmidt has recorded a few solo albums and written an opera based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. His wife Hildegard Schmidt has been responsible for the group's management and record label, Spoon Records, since the 1970s.

Discography

Solo

• Filmmusik (1980)
• Filmmusik, Vol. 2 (1981)
• Toy Planet (1981) with Bruno Spoerri
• Filmmusik, Vols. 3 & 4 (1983)
• Rote Erde (1983) soundtrack
• Musk At Dusk (1987)
• Filmmusik Vol. 5 (1989)
• Impossible Holidays (1991)
• Le Weekend (1991) maxi single
• Soundtracks 1978-1993 (1994)
• Gormenghast (2000)
• Masters of Confusion (2001) with Kumo
• Flies, Guys and Choirs (2008) DVD with Kumo
• Axolotl Eyes (2008) with Kumo
• Palermo Shooting (2008) soundtrack

With Can:

Main article: Can discography

External links

• Irmin Schmidt Homepage
• The Official CAN / Spoon Records Website
• Irmin Schmidt at the Internet Movie Database
• Irmin Schmidt at Allmusic
• Irmin Schmidt discography at Discogs