Michael Schiefel
Welcome. This website brings together my current projects, recordings, press material and contact information. The catalog offers a more detailed overview of albums, collaborations and earlier projects.
press photos & biography
Michael Schiefel is a vocalist, composer, improviser and educator based in Berlin. His work explores the human voice as a flexible instrument for melody, language, sound, electronics and spontaneous form.
As a solo performer, he combines voice, live looping and real-time processing to create layered soundscapes between song, improvisation and contemporary vocal music. Alongside his solo work, he has been involved in numerous ensemble and collaborative projects, ranging from jazz and chamber music to interdisciplinary performances, installations and music-theatre formats.
Schiefel has released and contributed to a wide range of recordings as a bandleader, solo artist and collaborator. His artistic work includes projects with ensembles such as Platypus Trio, Thärichens Tentett and Julia Hülsmann Octet, as well as international collaborations with artists including Samson Young, Cathy Milliken, David Friedman and others.
He is Professor of Jazz Voice at the Jazz Institute Berlin and has taught improvisation, ensemble work and vocal performance for many years. His teaching is closely connected to his artistic practice, with a focus on individuality, sound, interaction and creative process.
Schiefel is also the co-developer of MikeLoop, an iPad app for vocal looping, live performance, improvisation and music education. The app grew out of his long-standing work with voice, electronics and real-time composition.
contact
for direct enquiries:
for MikeLoop enquiries:
legal
Imprint
Michael Schiefel
Köpenicker Str. 124
10179 Berlin
Germany
Email: michael@michaelschiefel.com
Responsible for content according to §18 MStV:
Michael Schiefel
(address as above)
VAT ID: DE196555201
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projects
solo
A solo performance for voice and live electronics. Songs, improvisation, and composed material unfold through live looping and real-time processing, moving between acoustic intimacy and layered textures, shaped in the moment.
platypus trio
Platypus Trio brings together voice, cimbalom, and cello in a highly individual chamber setting.
The music was developed in 2013 during Michael Schiefel’s residency as Improviser in Residence of the City of Moers and first presented at the Moers Festival. The project’s self-titled album was released on BMC Records.
With Miklós Lukács (cimbalom) and Jörg Brinkmann (cello, electronics), the trio explores fragile song forms, extended instrumental textures, and electronic transformations—music that moves freely between composition and improvisation.
Michael Schiefel & David Friedman
This duo grew out of a long-standing musical relationship: David Friedman was Michael Schiefel’s professor during his studies in Berlin, and the two began playing together after Schiefel finished his studies.
Recorded informally during the Covid period, the album Hiptoe captures a loose and open session of jazz standards—more like a conversation than a planned recording, shaped by trust, experience, and shared musical language.