Lorenz Klingebiel

Black MIDI Ballet is a through-composed piano piece of extended duration written for two grand pianos – one human-played, one self-playing – expanded by virtual pianos in alternate tunings and real-time visuals. The work is part of the ongoing project HYPERPLEXIA, which investigates models of performance between human, mechanical and algorithmic systems, developed in collaboration with Falk Grieffenhagen (software development) and Paul von Chamier (visual operation).

The piece draws inspiration from Black MIDI, a subculture that emerged on Japanese platforms around 2009 and later spread globally via YouTube. In Black MIDI, “blackers” generate extreme MIDI densities, producing audiovisual overload through millions of stacked notes visualized as hyper-saturated piano-roll animations. Black MIDI Ballet translates this phenomenon into a physical and acoustic environment, while also tracing its lineage back to early mechanical and microtonal experiments by Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Charles Ives, and the tuning systems of Wendy Carlos.

The title references George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique (1924), originally imagined for sixteen synchronized player pianos. In Black MIDI Ballet, this idea is re-coded for the 21st century: a human pianist, a mechanical piano, and virtual pianos act as distinct musical agents that collide, layer, and negotiate autonomy in real time.

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