VITA

Damian Marhulets is a classically trained composer, oboe player, and electronic producer based in Germany. He finds his creative inspiration in the domain of the weird, where technology meets magic, and media intersects with mysticism. Drawing upon his lifelong fascination for the radical fringes of artistic exploration and philosophical thought, Damian thrives in the realm of blurred boundaries between musical worlds. With a background rooted equally in classical music and the avant-garde tradition, enriched by his unique expertise in sound design, multimedia and extensive experience in working with new technologies, he rejects conventional musical norms to forge a distinctive sonic identity and embark on journeys through uncharted realms of creativity.

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Born in 1980 in Minsk, Belarus, Damian was accepted to the prestigious Minsk College of Music at the age of 6. It was not long until he began performing as an oboe soloist with some of the most renowned orchestras in the country and abroad. Still in his early childhood, Damian became a prize winner of numerous major international music competitions. His music career took a new turn in 2000 when he relocated to Germany. Following his artistic inquisitiveness, he soon immersed himself in the underground experimental music scene. His musical education shifted from oboe to modern composition and electronic music, which he studied at the Music Academy in Hannover and in Cologne with Prof. Johannes Schoellhorn and Joachim Heintz.

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As an artist-in-residence, Damian has worked at renowned venues such as the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, the ACROE Institute Grenoble, the Ionian University Corfu, and STEIM in Amsterdam. He has also been the recipient of several prizes and scholarships, including the composition stipend from the Cultural Affairs Department of Lower Saxony, the Szloma Albam Stiftung stipend, and the European Culture Program grant.

In the field of cultural management Damian has been working as artistic director and curator with numerous cultural association. In the past decade he’s been working with the Ars Aperta - Hannover e.V. association on the regular base, curating concerts, festivals and lecture series such as “Brilliant Darkness - Philosophy and Art at the Edge of the Human”, “Die Schule des Neuen Hörens”, “Imaginal Machines” and many others.

Damian's own work encompasses a diverse range of topics, including ludomusicology and the integration of modern game engines into his compositional process. He is known for creating unconventional graphic and interactive digital musical scores, as well as immersive music experiences in virtual spaces. In recent years, he has also produced numerous large-scale stage performances, seamlessly blending acoustic instruments with electronics and complex 3d visuals. Damian has collaborated with esteemed musicians and ensembles from various musical backgrounds, such as David Krakauer, Frank Bungarten, the Szymanowski String Quartet, Ensemble hand werk, Seth Josel, Hainbach, Marina Baranova, DJ Olive, and many others. In addition to composing concert music, as well as music for theatre, film, and dance, Damian has toured extensively throughout Europe and the USA, showcasing his own music at numerous music festivals and alternative DJ clubs.

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For his more pop-oriented musical projects, Damian is signed with Neue Meister / Berlin Classic record company, as well as La Chunga publishing. He has released three albums between 2017 and 2022. His latest album, "Constellation Machine" (2022), is a chamber pop collaboration with Dutch singer Line Bøgh and the Nouvelle Philharmonie piano trio. Currently, he is working on a new album inspired by the life and work of John Mack’ — an American psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize winner known for his research on the psychology of alien abduction experiences.

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Damian Marhulets is a passionate scholar and researcher in the fields of modern philosophy, phenomenology, mystical traditions and weird literature. He is a member of a Fairy Investigation Society (founded in Britain in 1927) and devoted student of Jewish mysticism. His personal exchange with some of modern cutting edge thinkers such as Graham Harman, David Roden and Armen Avanessian plays an important role in his own creative work. Damian is also actively working on establishing more direct forms of exchange between art, music, modern philosophy and science through personal contact with many word leading thinkers and scientists and curating his own transdisciplinary event series such as “Unfold” or more recent “Brilliant Darkness - Philosophy and Art at the Edge of the Human”.

As a lecturer, Damian has developed courses to such topics as:

• “Impressionism and Cosmic Horror: Husserl - Lovecraft - Debussy”

• “Dark Phenomenology: Music and Memory Anomalies“

• “Dark Ecology: Japanese Environmental Ambient – Music of Fairies – Cascadian Black Metal”

• “Far Side Virtual: Vaporwave and Music of Abandoned Virtual Worlds”

Selected Concerts

Damian Marhulets’ works have been performed in major venues and festivals including:

  • Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg

  • Berliner Philharmonie

  • Beethovenfest Bonn

  • Music Triennial Cologne

  • BOZAR - Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels

  • Philharmonic Hall, Essen

  • Berghain Club, Berlin

  • KunstFestSpiele Hannover

  • Podium Festival, Esslingen

  • Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg

His visual works and installations were presented at many different galleries and museums of modern art such as:

  • Kestnergesellschaft and Sprengel Museum Hannover

  • ArtCenter Berlin

  • Diapason Sound Art Gallery, NYC

  • DAVID vzw Gallery in Ghent

  • Konnektor – Forum für Künste, Hannover

  • Hong-gah Museum, Taipeh

and others.