Susanna Ridler

INFOBOX

Genre(s): Classical Music, Contemporary Music, Jazz/Improvised Music
From: Vienna, Austria
Website: www.koer.at
Instagram
Facebook
Youtube
Spotify
Music Database
Label: www.electrolandrecords.com
Contact: info@susannaridler.com

BIOGRAPHY

Susanna Ridler works as a composer, vocalist and producer fluidly between contemporary music, electronics, jazz, improvisation and avant-garde pop. She studied acting in Vienna, and music and voice in Maastricht, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles. Computers and electronic sound generators became part of Ridler’s musical toolkit early on. “Straight into the realm of masterstrokes!” wrote Rolling Stone magazine about ´Susystems´, the album by her jazz/electronic project [koe:r] — an artful blend of acoustic and digital sound aesthetics featuring, among others, double bassist Peter Herbert and saxophonist Wolfgang Puschnig. Whether composing chamber music for ´ensemble XXI. jahrhundert´ or creating computer-generated “pocket orchestra” settings of texts by poet Gert Jonke, Ridler brings tradition and modernity into dialogue. These elements merge into a distinctive artistic language that unfolds in unconventional sonic landscapes. Despite her extensive use of electronically processed sound microcosms and artificial structures, Ridler’s work is always driven by emotional immediacy: “I constantly strive to illuminate the emotional core of a text, a film, or a theatre scene through my musical language. I place no limits on myself. Any musical means — from sound and noise to a substantial yet accessible melody — is permitted if it serves the content.” As a vocalist and live performer, Ridler integrates advanced vocal techniques, often expanded through the use of technical equipment. “Emotion, expression, and meaning are essential to me.” Her long-standing engagement with the literary work of poet Gert Jonke “has profoundly enriched my entire artistic practice and opened new ways of using ‘language’ as musical and vocal material.” Ridler composes music for film, theatre, and radio drama, as well as vocal and chamber music. Since 2008, she has released four recordings on her label Electroland Records Vienna: [koe:r] (2008), ´Tachycardia´ Remix EP (2009), [koe:r] – ´Susystems (2012), and in 2020/21 the extensive literary setting *Geometrie der Seele – A Musical Homage to Austrian Poet Gert Jonke*, which was nominated for the ´German Record Critics’ Award´ in 2021. After a revision, this work is now being released digitally for the first time in a new three-part edition. It includes the chamber music composition ´Chlorophyllklang´, the tone poem ´Der Sprachkomponist´, and the three-movement sonata ´Radio Jonke´, to be released on February 8, 2026 — the day Gert Jonke would have celebrated his 80th birthday. In 2025, as part of a commissioned work for ´Festival Retz´, Ridler created an extensive musical adaptation of the anti-homeland novel ´Fretten´ by Helena Adler. This project led her to develop a new sonic language and to form the ensemble ´VoCe Plus´, featuring the outstanding instrumentalists Asja Valcic (cello), Lena Fankhauser (viola), and Sophie Hassfurther (clarinet, tenor saxophone, flute). In addition, Ridler composed the film score for the documentary ´sich langsam nähern´ by director Maria Arlamovsky in 2025. “Even in my early work with the project [koe:r], I was fascinated by the technical possibilities of sound production, which I explored experimentally — in composition, live performance, and music production,” says Ridler. “Through years of experimentation, I developed a digital working method that allows me to process audio material recorded in the studio or live to achieve the desired sound image. The blend of acoustic and electronic sound layers is certainly a characteristic element of my music. Improvisation — that spontaneous, emotional expression, the magical creation of freely improvised sound spaces — is another essential element, it is my connection to jazz.”* Another key aspect of her work is composing for ´traditional instruments and choir´. Music for film, theatre, radio drama, vocal and chamber music — it unfolds like a ´pas de deux´ between word, tone, and sound, tradition and contemporaneity, performed across stage, studio, and cinema.

VIDEO

RELATED ARTICLES