ABOUT

Sergej Maingardt is a composer and author working at the intersection of sound, technology and socio-political structures.
Maingardt’s current work is centered on the abolition of voice ownership in the age of artificial intelligence.

His practice has evolved from composition and music theatre towards system-level interventions addressing authorship, collective voice and power in post-digital societies. Rather than producing autonomous works, his recent projects construct situations in which existing frameworks of ownership, attribution and control become unstable.

Maingardt studied electronic composition at the University of Music and Dance Cologne (HfMT Köln), media cultural analysis at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and media technology at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf. From 2021 to 2023, he was Guest Professor for Transdigital Composition in the Contemporary Music Department at the HfMT Cologne. He was a Fellow of the German Academy Rome at Casa Baldi (Villa Massimo programme).

His compositions and music theatre works have been commissioned and presented by institutions and festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, IRCAM ManiFeste, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Acht Brücken Festival and the German Music Council. His work RUSH, commissioned for the German National Youth Orchestra, addresses protest movements of the 21st century through large orchestral and electronic forces. In Blindfolded, created for VR glasses, headphones and electronics, he explored the relationship between human perception and virtual environments. His music theatre and performative works examine thresholds of auditory and visual perception and their political implications.
In collaboration with choreographers, Maingardt has created numerous full-length dance productions, co-produced by institutions including the Münchner Kammerspiele, Saarländisches Staatstheater and Staatstheater Braunschweig. His work has been presented internationally across Europe, North America, Central America, Asia and Africa. Selected ensemble and solo works are documented in a portrait release in the Edition Zeitgenössische Musik series.

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