Irmin Schmidt

He started work mainly as a conductor performing concerts with the Bochum Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, and the Dortmund Ensemble for New Music. During this time, Schmidt conducted the West German premiere of John Cage's "Atlas Eclipticalis" with Bochum Symphony Orchestra and performed Cage's piano piece "Winter Music". Since early 1980s, Schmidt produced soundtrack compositions for such TV and films as Knife in the Head (1978) and Palermo Shooting (2008). Additionally, he has recorded solo albums and written an opera, Gormenghast, based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast Trilogy. He received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) in 2015 and Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2025.

Irmin Schmidt studied at Mozarteum University Salzburg. The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are Krautrock and avant-garde music. Works named in the authority record are Gormenghast. Distinctions recorded are Holger Czukay Pop Music Prize of the City of Cologne, Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Irmin Schmidt was born on 29 May 1937 in Berlin, Germany, to Kurt and Margot Schmidt. Schmidt's father was an architect and engineer, and both his parents played piano. While attending a board school in 1950s, he wrote in the school newspaper about his "Schulungsleiter" (ideology tutor) who taught modern history of the Reichsarbeitsdienst, which got him fired. Schmidt began his studies in music at the conservatorium in Dortmund, and expanded his education in conducting at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, studying under Heinz Dressel. Additionally, he took piano lessons from Detlef Kraus and studied composition under the Hungarian avant-garde composer György Ligeti. Schmidt started work mainly as a conductor performing concerts with the Bochum Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, and the Dortmund Ensemble for New Music that he founded in 1962. During this time, Schmidt conducted the West German premiere of John Cage's "Atlas Eclipticalis" with Bochum Symphony Orchestra and performed Cage's piano piece "Winter Music". Schmidt attended the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, Austria, to further develop his conducting skills under István Kertész. In 1964-1965, he attended the Cologne Courses for New Music at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne, taught by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Henri Pousseur, and Earle Brown; the course was also attended by his future band-mates, Holger Schüring (later to change his surname to Czukay) and David C. Johnson. By 1966 Schmidt got a position as Kapellmeister at the Theater Aachen, hired as docent for musical theatre and chanson, and worked at the Schauspielschule Bochum (drama school) teaching vocal technique. In January 1966, Schmidt made his first visit to the United States, flying to New York City to compete in the "International Dimitri Mitropoulos Competition for Composers". He immersed himself in the city's rapidly developing underground arts scene, watching Andy Warhol movies and spending time with several young progenitors of avant-garde and minimalist music, including La Monte Young, Dick Higgins, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley. Schmidt played piano in a session with Riley. Schmidt's spouse Hildegard introduced him to Russian-American composer Serge Tcherepnin, and Irmin played the saxophone part at the 1966 premiere of Tcherepnin's Morning After Piece. In 1967, Irmin performed several Fluxus-style diagrammatic scores, and published them as Album für Mogli, pet name for his spouse Hildegard. Album für Mogli has been organized as a set of thirteen-sheet manuscript, supposed to be stacked in any order by any number of musicians. The score's composition "Hexapussy" premiered in Frankfurt the same year, played on metallic sound-sculptures created by the Baschet Brothers. Other titles included" "Oiml(g): Nightmares", "Gagaku", "Für Jackson MacLow", "Erinnerung", "Dieter's Lullaby", "Nada", "Prinzipien", and other. "Hexapussy" was the only recording that survived, appearing on the soundtrack composed by Can for 1969 film Agilok & Blubbo. On a number of occasions, Irmin was asked to give talks or perform avant-garde music at gallery openings organized by Albert Schulze-Vellinghausen. Schulze-Vellinghausen, in turn, acquainted Schmidt with interior designer and up-in-coming gallerist Hans Mayer.

Irmin Schmidt began a relationship with Hildegard Reittenberger after performing at an East German music festival in 1957. The couple married six years later in 1963. They have a daughter, Sandra, born in April 1970. Sandra married Jono Podmore in 2001, and the couple has one child. Hildegard became Can's manager in 1972, after they fired their previous manager, Abi Ofarim. In 1979, she established the record label, Spoon Records, taking control of the copyright of the Can discography. As of 2026, Schmidt lives between Germany and Provence, Southern France, for over forty years.

• Filmmusik (1980) • Filmmusik, Vol. 2 (1981) • Toy Planet (1981) with Bruno Spoerri • Filmmusik, Vols. 3 & 4 (1983) • Rote Erde (1983) soundtrack • Musk at Dusk (1987) • Kein Schöner La La (1988) 12" Single (as Herr Schmidt) • Filmmusik Vol. 5 (1989) • Impossible Holidays (1991) • Soundtracks 1978–1993 (1994) • Gormenghast (2000) • Masters of Confusion (2001) with Kumo • Flies, Guys and Choirs (2008) DVD with Kumo • Axolotl Eyes (2008) with Kumo • Palermo Shooting (2008) soundtrack • Filmmusik Anthology, Volume 4 & 5 (2009) • Villa Wunderbar (2013), 2-CD compilation, sleeve notes by Wim Wenders • Filmmusik Anthology Volume 6 (2015) • 5 Klavierstücke (2018) • Nocturne (Live at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival) (2020) • Requiem (2026)

• Monster Movie (1969) • Tago Mago (1971) • Ege Bamyasi (1972) • Future Days (1973) • Soon Over Babaluma (1974) • Landed (1975) • Flow Motion (1976) • Saw Delight (1977) • Out of Reach (1978) • Can (1979) • Rite Time (1989)

• Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock (2019)

*