Biography
Alva Noto is the stage name of German composer and visual artist Carsten Nicolai. Born in Chemnitz in 1965, he studied landscape architecture at the Technical University of Dresden before turning to art and music. He is known for his work in electronic music, often under minimalist and reductionist approaches, and co-founded the Raster-Noton record label (later NOTON).
Nicolai has collaborated extensively with Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Their joint work includes the original score for the 2015 film The Revenant, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, on which they were joined by Bryce Dessner for additional music. Nicolai has also composed for other projects and maintains a parallel career as a visual artist with exhibitions at major institutions worldwide. He has been a professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts since 2015.
