Michael Acker initially studied physics at the University of Heidelberg and holds a degree in sound engineering from the Detmold University of Music. As a violinist he has played in various international ensembles and orchestras. His wide-ranging experience has given him a perfect understanding of how to integrate the technical and musical-interpretative aspects of contemporary music with live electronics.
Since 1999 he has worked as an internationally successful sound director at the SWR Experimental Studio, collaborating with composers and musicians such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Mark Andre, Pierre Boulez, Chaya Czernowin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Carolin and Jörg Widmann. As ‘musician at the mixing desk’ he regularly appears at renowned festivals and international performance venues, and has realized live music for, among others, Luigi Nono’s Prometeo at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and Johannes Maria Staud’s opera Die Weiden at the Vienna State Opera. At the Donaueschingen Music Festival alone he has participated in more than fifty world premieres as a sound director, and has an extensive repertory of live electronic works.
