Biography

Internationally renowned music producer and composer Henrik Schwarz is known for his eclectic musical approach to composition and sound design. As a producer and performer, he has successfully maintained a balance between electronic music, classical and jazz, and between energetic, highly charged dance sets at huge Techno events and concert performances in seated auditoriums.
Since 2002, Schwarz has been releasing his own music, and has accrued over 100 music releases and productions as an artist for big and small labels like Warner Music, Universal Music, Motown, Sony/BMG, !K7, Verve Records, and indies like Defected Records, Innervisions, Ninja Tune, G-Stone , Compost Records and many more. Countless, widely heard remix productions for a Who’s Who of the international dance scene have ensued, making their way into DJ charts. Amongst those whose work he’s tailored for the global dance floor are Michael Jackson, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Boy George, Ane Brun, Camille, The Foals and Mari Boine. In addition, Coldplay and Mary J. Blige have recently sought his unique production style and sonic aesthetics.
Schwarz’s early years culminated in 2006 with a stylistically surprising and diverse mix for the hip DJ-Kicks CD series (which was originally brought to public attention by Kruder & Dorfmeister). In 2007, he released Henrik Schwarz Live, which documented his transformation from DJ to dynamic live laptop performer on the international club and festival scene.

His passion for minimal music was evident in 2009 on the conceptual mix album The Grandfather Paradox with Âme & Dixon.
Since 2010, Henrik Schwarz has performed regularly as a musician and composer. In 2010, he broke new ground by collaborating with Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, which found piano and computer side by side on stage as well as on their first album, Duo, allowing concert halls and renowned jazz festivals a chance to discover Henrik Schwarz for themselves.

Since 2010, Henrik Schwarz has composed commissioned work for the Berlin State Ballet, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Tonhalle Zürich and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, as well as new music for silent film classics belonging to the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation. He also created the sound logo for well-known US film production
company FilmNation (The Imitation Game, The King’s Speech, Looper etc.).

With the addition of exceptional bassist Dan Berglund (e.s.t.) on bass, Schwarz’s duo with Wesseltoft has developed into a trio, Wesseltoft Schwarz Berglund. In 2014, the trio released the album album TRIALOGUE through Universal Music, playing celebrated concerts across Europe.

2013 provided the first two appearances of the Henrik Schwarz live band – at Berlin’s Watergate Club and the Melt! Festival – with Schwarz as vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player, alongside a bassist and two drummers.
That same year, his conceptual, sound research-based collaboration with German pianist Hauschka, Scripted & Prepared, was unveiled at the Muziekgebouw aan ‚t IJ in Amsterdam. Since 2014, Scripted & Prepared has continued with Swiss ECM artist Nik Bärtsch.
In 2013, together with the State Ballet, Schwarz composed and produced a nearly 30 minute score for a ballet production at Berlin’s Berghain club called
„Masse“.

As part of his own composition, INSTRUMENTS, Schwarz has worked with the Dutch Chamber Orchestra at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, independent ensembles in Tokyo and Stuttgart, and the German Chamber Orchestra in Berlin.
Henrik Schwarz’s INSTRUMENTS album will be released in April 2015.
Schwarz works on live projects with Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, bassist Dan Berglund (Esbjorn Svensson Trio), Frank Wiedemann, pianist Nik Bärtsch (ECM), Hauschka (Deutsche Grammophon), Etienne Jaumet, Kahil El’Zabar, Ben Westbeech, Robert Owens, Johannes Brecht, and many more.

As a result of Henrik’s work for Berghain’s Masse project he worked with german painter Norbert Bisky on his exhibition/installation „Zentrifuge“ for Kunsthalle Rostock 2014.
In Autumn 2015 Henrik wrote the new title music for the famous german television show „Das Literarische Quartett“ (ZDF).

He also rearranged Debussy’s String Quartet Assez Vif for Decca records. The new recording was used by Apple in their worldwide iPad Pro TV campaign.

Together with Jukes Buckley and Metropole Orkest Henrik played the opening show for Amsterdam Dance Event 2016 at Melkweg. Henrik had written one hour of exclusive orchestra music for Metropole Orkest. This music was recorded 2017 in Hilversum and released as Skripted Orkestra in spring 2018.

As his interest in classical music increased Henrik started developing Plunderphonia in 2015. A concept where excerpts from String Quartets from the last 400 years are edited and rearranged like a DJ set. This concept was comissioned by Pop Kultur Festival Berlin as their opening concert in summer 2018 and has been played again at a sold out concert at Hamburgs famous Elbphilharmonie in spring 2019 with the Alma String quartet from Amsterdam.

At the same time Alma String Quartet and Henrik Schwarz recorded an album of newly written compositions called CCMYK. The collaboration album was released in summer 2019.

Nike used „Unknown Touch“ in their TV campaign to support Canada’s national team in the women’s soccer worlds championship.

Schwarz’s international success and his passion for global music culture are visible in his collaborations with Samí singer Mari Boine (Norway), Emanuel Jal (Sudan), Kuniyuki Takahashi (Japan), Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (USA) and Amampondo (South Africa).
Henrik Schwarz has performed as a musician under his own name on the stages of, among others:
Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Barbican Hall (London), the Royal Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Tonhalle Zürich, the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, the Royal Festival Hall (London), the Auditorium Parco Della Musica (Rome), the Kampnagelfabrik (Hamburg), the Hellerau Theatre (Dresden), the Leipzig Opera House and the Chamber Music Hall (Berlin) and at festivals including:
Montreux Jazz, North Sea Jazz, Enjoy Jazz, Jetzt Musik, London Jazz, Numusic, So What’s Next, Rewire, Young Pianists Festival Amsterdam, Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Amsterdam Dance Event, Mutek, Nuits Sonores, Worldwide Festival, Melt! Festival, Timewarp, Awakenings etc
Henrik Schwarz runs his own record label, Sunday Music, which releases his own productions as well as the work of musician and producer friends.
Schwarz is in great demand as an innovator when it comes to the invention and development of music software and new technology for musical instruments, hence his release of the compositional patch, the SCHWARZONATOR. He works closely with companies like Yamaha Music, Ableton, Native Instruments etc.

Commissioned Work

  • Henrik Schwarz – Scripted Orchestra – Metropole Orkest with Jules Buckley
  • A Critical Mass (Germany) 2010
    // Performances at the Roundhouse London / Jetzt Musik Festival Mannheim / Murnau Stiftung Berlin
  • Chamber Orchestra Stuttgart (Germany) 2011 // Performance at Jazz Open, Stuttgart
  • Ensemble of Tonhalle Zürich (Switzerland) 2012 // Performance at Tonhalle Zürich
  • German Chamber Orchestra (Germany) 2012 // Performance at Berlin Philharmonic Hall
  • Asphalt Silent Movie Concert with Bugge Wesseltoft // Performance at Philharmonie Luxemburg.
  • The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (Netherlands) 2013 // Performance at the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
  • Secret Orchestra Tokyo (Japan) 2013 // Performance at Tsukiji Honganji Temple, Tokyo
  • Masse, Berghain & Berlin State Ballet (Germany) 2013 // Music & Performance at Berghain Berlin
  • Zentrifuge installation with german painter Norbert Bisky at Kunsthalle Rostock
  • Das Literarische Quartett, new title music for the famous german tv show 2015
  • Lindenstrasse – Film Music
  • Plunderphonia – Pop Kultur Festival Berlin
  • Plunderphonia – Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Discography Album

  • 2005: Henrik Schwarz – ‚Henrik Schwarz Live“(Sunday Music)
  • 2006: Henrik Schwarz – ‚DJ-Kicks‘ (Studio !K7)
  • 2011: Bugge Wesseltoft & Henrik Schwarz – ‚Duo‘ (Jazzland Recordings)
  • 2013: Berghain MASSE – Henrik Schwarz Balletsuite#1 (Ostgut Ton)
  • 2014: Henrik Schwarz – House Masters – (Defected)
  • 2014: Bugge Wesseltoft, Henrik Schwarz & Dan Berglund – Trialogue (Jazzland Recordings)
  • 2015: Henrik Schwarz – Instruments (Sony Classical International)
  • 2018: Henrik Schwarz & Metropole Orkest – Skripted Orkestra
  • 2019: Henrik Schwarz & Alma Quartet – CCMYK
  • Full List Of Productions & Remixes at Discogs

Henrik Schwarz Remixes

  • Coldplay
  • Mary J Blige
  • The Foals
  • James Brown
  • Jackson 5
  • Ane Brun
  • Carl Craig
  • London Grammar
  • Emmanuel Jal
  • Boy George
  • Amampondo
  • Ben Westbeech
  • Stevie Wonder
  • Mark Murphy
  • Mari Boine
  • Fritz Kalkbrenner
  • Sven Väth
  • Jazzanova feat. Paul Randolph
  • Coldcut feat. Robert Owens
  • Underworld
  • Unkle
  • and many more …

Productions / collaborations include:

  • Bugge Wesseltoft
  • Norbert Bisky
  • Âme
  • Dixon
  • Jesse Rose
  • Dan Berglund
  • Nik Bärtsch
  • Hauschka
  • Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
  • Guem
  • Kahil ElZabar
  • Kuniyuki
  • and many more …




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