MARTIN HALL


Singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and author, born April 26, 1963, Denmark. Began his musical training at the age of ten at the Piano and Music Academy of Copenhagen. First record release at the age of 17 as singer and composer in the avantgarde ensemble Ballet Mécanique whose debut album The Icecold Waters Of The Egocentric Calculation from 1981 is regarded as a cornerstone in contemporary Danish music history. Since then MH has released a series of albums ranging from industrial music to neo-classical recordings, a line of books on major publishing labels as well as several magazines and anthologies. His literary debut from 1983, Genopbyggelsen Er Stoerre End Selve Skabelsen ('The Recreation is Greater than the Creation Itself'), aroused equal amounts of excitement and furore.

Admitted to The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (Schools of Visual Arts) in Copenhagen during the same year (1983) and designed most of the covers to his record and book releases throughout the eighties. Worked with several Danish theatre groups during these years as well as writing and directing multi-media projects and theatre performances with his own ensemble The Art Ensemble Of Copenhagen. Throughout the nineties MH continuously explored design, video and installation art alongside his musical and literary projects. Received the Honoury Award of DJBFA (The Danish Association Of Composers) in March 1995 as well as the prestigious 3-year grant from The National Fund for the Endowment of The Arts in April. Released his long awaited solo album Random Hold in 1996, an album regarded as his best record during the nineties (the title continues to figure on various encyclopedian lists over the most important Danish music releases during this decade).

During 1999 and 2000 MH wrote the music for the Danish theatre ensemble Operanord's performance Gilles' Requiem, the score for Gud Bevare Danmark by Ole Bornedal (writer and director of the Hollywood film 'The Night Watch') and the music for Danish director Claus Bohm's film Digter. In March 2001 he released his highly acclaimed diary Kommunikaze concurrently with the album Metropolitan Suite. In September MH was given the honour to write the music for the opening of the Swedish artist Ingvar Cronhammer's grand scale building work Elia in Herning (a Danish city), and in October he created the exhibition A Hospital Room at Ystads Konstmuseum (Sweden), a sound- and image installation based on a series of conversations with a dying hospital patient (now permanently displayed at the museum). Wrote and produced the score for Gladsaxe Teater's major 2002 launch, the theatre version of Lady of the Camellias, Camille (Original Soundtrack), which was proclaimed as one of his finest works ever by an unanimous press.

Included in Kraks Blaa Bog (Krak's Blue Book) in May 2003, a prestigious book of summation of the most important people in Danish art and culture. Founded his new label, Panoptikon, the same year on which he released Das Mechanische Klavier in 2004, a piece of work combining songs performed by the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and narratives read by the German scholar Herbert Zeichner. Released his long awaited major novel Den Sidste Romantiker ('The Last Romantic') in August 2005, a monumental 700-pages piece of work reflecting a young man’s journey from the summer of 1980 up until present day. Apart from getting brilliant reviews, the book also constitutes Hall’s literary breakthrough.

In February 2006 MH launched one of his principal works, his first solo-album as a singer in seven years, Facsimile. In Denmark, the album has been met with astounding reviews, praising it as finest work in 25 years. In October MH furthermore wrote the music to the Danish art museum ARoS’ exhibition Racing Cars – The Art Dimension, the museum's most visited exhibition so far.

In November 2007 the box set Catalogue (Martin Hall 1980-2007) was released. It consists of five audio-cd’s and a dvd covering MH's musical career from 1980 to 2007. In the spring of 2008 a collection of his newspaper articles and essays followed in the form of the book Infodemens, a period in which he also made his motion picture debut in the Danish film Flammen & Citronen ('The Flame & The Lemon').

Major parts of MH's musical works have been released in Germany, Holland, France, England and Italy. As a writer he's been translated into several European languages.

For further details, please see: 1979-2008

 
Introducing The Catalogue Box
Notes 2007


Grace Under Pressure
Interview 2007


Inscribe Yourself
Consumer’s guide to 'Inskription' 2003


Grenzwellen Interview
Interview 2002


A Hospital Room
Exhibition 2001


Voila! The Artist speaks
Interview 1999


Martin Hall interviewed by Torsten Pape
Interview 1997


Martin Hall interviewed by Tobias Matkowitz
Interview 1997


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