Aleksander Kolkowski (born 1959 in London) is a British musician and composer whose work combines instruments and machines from the pioneering era of sound recording and reproduction (Stroh violins,[1] wind-up Gramophones, shellac discs and wax-phonograph cylinders) to make live mechanical-acoustic music.
Projects include "Voices and Etchings" for 6 singers and Gramophones (Staatsbankberlin, 2003) and "Mechanical Landscape with Bird" (MaerzMusik, Berlin 2004), featuring live singing canaries, wax cylinder Phonograph recordings and a rotating horned string quartet.
Collaborations with artists include: Martin Riches, Apartment House, Kairos Quartett, Ute Wassermann, Anna Clementi, Aki Takase, Tony Buck, Hayley Newman, Phil Minton, Tristan Honsinger, Tony Oxley, Evan Parker, Sainkho Namchylak, Louis Moholo, Jon Rose, Matt Wand, Richard Barrett, Phill Niblock, Christian Wolff, Claus van Bebber, Boris Hegenbart, and many, many others.
Composition of a live score for the classic polish baroque fantasy movie by Wojciech Has, British Film Institute, London Installation-workshop for Transmediale 07, Berlin and Edition Edison.
Solo performance with Stroh cello, 2 musical saws, CD players, speakerdrivers and custom built electronics.
Podewil and Staatsbankberlin, Berlin Concert and live Phonograph recordings with Anna Clementi and Phil Minton – vocals.
Staatsbankberlin, Berlin, Seltsame Musik Festival, Munich and Kontraste, Krems/Austria A musical séance for Stroh violin, violinophone, tuba, Gramophones and Phonographs.