Michael von Biel (born 30 June 1937) is a German composer, cellist, and graphic artist.
After finishing school in Canterbury, England, he studied piano, theory, and composition in Toronto (1956–57), Vienna (1958–60), New York (1960, with Morton Feldman, amongst others), London (1961–62, with Cornelius Cardew), and Cologne (with Karlheinz Stockhausen).
[2] Since 1966 Michael von Biel has lived in Cologne sharing a flat with fellow composer Irmin Schmidt.
[1][2] Holger Czukay, a pupil of Stockhausen, called Biel a "real punker", and Rob Young, writing a biography for Cologne band Can, described Biel's style as "pushing compositional framework to the limits of noise, using extended techniques including excessive pressure on bowed instruments, playing behind the bridge to create overtones".
festival in Cologne, celebrating musical and painting oeuvre of Michael von Biel.