Ali Helnwein profile picture

Ali Helnwein

I'm a fermata...so hold me

About Me

--NEWS!!-- Ali Helnwein's String Quartet No. 1 in E minor now available to purchase on the iTunes music store!HOW TO PURCHASE THE MUSIC THROUGH iTUNES:On a macintosh:-- Open the iTunes application.-- Click on the "music store" button on the left side of the window.-- in the search field at the top right type in "Ali Helnwein" and press enter.-- The album will come up, you can either purchase the entire album by pressing the "buy album" button next to the CD art work at the top; or you can dowload the individual tracks by clicking the "buy song" buttons to the very right of each song. (each song costs $0.99, the entire album costs $2.97)-- Enjoy the music.On a PC or if you don't have iTunes on your computer:-- Open a web browser and go to itunes.com-- Towards the center of the screen you will find a search field that allows you to search for artists, albums, titles, etc. Type in "Ali Helnwein" and press enter.-- Any further instructions will be listed on the itunes website.--BIO--1982Born in Vienna, Austria.1984For the film portrait of his father -"Helnwein", by Peter Hajek for the national German and Austrian television -Ali meets with Muhammad Ali in Los Angeles for a little sparring.1985Moves to Germany with his family.1989Meets Keith Harring, who draws artwork on his hands in Düsseldorf, Germany. Doesn't wash his hands for a while. ..1991 1994Participates in the installation "Kindskopf" (Head of a Child) of his father, Gottfried Helnwein, in the Minoriten Church, in Austria.Attends school in England, where he is first introduced to classical music. Starts violin lessons and basic music theory.At the age of 11 he sells a painting to purchase his first violin, in Germany.2000Moves to Los Angeles where he apprentices for a year at Media Ventures (Hans Zimmer and Jay Rifkins studio), working under Henning Lohner. At Media Ventures he learned to use todays music technology, composition and orchestration (studying Nikolai Rimsky-Kosakovs Principles of Orchestration).2001Edits scores and parts for Orlacs Hands Henning Lohners orchestral composition for the silent film, which is performed with a live orchestra at the Flanders International Film Festival, in Belgium, 2001. ..2002Starts an apprenticeship under the renowned arranger and composer David Campbell.2003Screening of Caitlin Dahl's Short Film with original music by Ali Helnwein at 811 Traction Ave. ....Amongst other projects, he plays violin in a Stephane Grapelli/ Django Reinhadt influenced swing jazz band (The San Marino Jazz Quintet).2004Gets accepted into the Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra of California under the baton of Dr. Ernst Katz. ..Studies a broad range of musical styles, ranging from the technique behind composing Palestrina-style chorals (medeival-style chorales), to the sonata form, to Arnold Schoenberg's teachings, Irish folk music, klezmer music and present day film scores.Finishes writing his Piano Sonata No. 1, D min. (4 movements: 1) Allegro 2) Andante 3) Minuette, 4) Rondo)2005While still apprenticing under David Campbell, begins writing music for commercials and more short films.Starts the company Strayed Dogs, LLC together with two of his siblings, Mercedes and Amadeus. Through the company they will continue producing their art, writings and music. ..Finishes writing his String Quartet No. 1, E min. (3 movements: Allegro, Adagio, Vivace Ma Non Troppo).Plays shows around town, in LA, with various local bands ranging in styles.Learns about Irish music by playing in local pubs in Ireland. ..CHECK OUT MY WEBSITES: www.alihelnwein.com www.tractionorchestra.com www.strayeddogs.com

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 7/1/2005
Band Website: alihelnwein.com
Influences: ABOUT THE MUSIC:To aquire a unique sound I generally don't use purchased sample libraries. I would either record all the instruements (which one can do affordably if you have many friends who are musicians) or create my own sample libraries.For example, the piano on "Greed" and "Gluttony" is a very old, detuned piano from Ireland, which I used to record each note on a very low quality tape recorder. I then put it all in the computer and created a sample library out of it. Other sounds I sampled are random and percussive sounds, pizzicato violin and staccato violin, a music box, a toy piano, etc.I have gathered lots experience by playing in several different style bands and in an orchestra; working with top of the line studio musicians, engineers and recording studios; working with international film festivals; recording, mixing and mastering string sessions; training under composers such as David Campbell and the composers at Media Ventures; writing music for short films and commercials; and playing with the traditinal folk musicians of Ireland, but I'm always interested in learning more from different sources. On top of this I studied various musical styles, ranging from medieval, unaccompanied choral music, baroque counterpoint, the sonata forms of the classical and romantic times, modern film scoring, traditinal jazz, folk music, klezmer music and "Principles of Orchestration" by Korsakov.Since independent movies are gaining more and more popularity and a much bigger audience, the film scoring trends are changing along side of that. If you look at films from the middle of the the 20th century you'll hear a lot of full orchestral, gushy and more traditionally composed scores. Toward the end of the century music took a more simple and minimalistic (yet still fully orchestrated) turn -- playing on a film session for an earlier film composer such as Leonard Bernstein would have been technically a lot harder than playing on a modern film score such as something like the Lord of the Rings or Pearl Harbor score. Now it seems that more and more film scores have an unushual edge to them, incorporating bizzare sounds and instruments and experimenting even more with the combination of synthesized sounds and real instruments. This is what I'm trying to work on with my music, in order to create an atmosphere to scenes that haven't been fully explored so far.Music theory can weigh one down as much as it can help one, so let's not act like a bunch of clones and actually try to take the art of motion pictures to a different, yet aesthetic, level.
Sounds Like:
Type of Label: None

My Blog

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Musicians wanted for a new chamber orchestra:The instrumentation is going to be:1 Flute (this spot taken)1 Clarinet (this spot is taken)1 Oboe1 Bassoon1 french horn2 trumpets1 trombone1 percussionist3...
Posted by Ali Helnwein on Mon, 01 May 2006 01:27:00 PST

John Cleese

A New Year's Message from John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) to the Citizens of the United States of America: In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern...
Posted by Ali Helnwein on Mon, 23 Jan 2006 12:43:00 PST