About

Cio D´Or

Composer – Soundarchitect – DJ

Silence is my source.
Zeitgeist: the noise.
I filter that out.
It’s about the essence.
What remains?

Artistic Vita: Education

1977–82 first piano lessons, autodidactic learning of xylophone, congas, kalimba, guitar
1982–85 Private school for contemporary dance, Graham technique, Berlin
1999–today Studies in music production, sound creation, composition, dramaturgy, film scoring and visual media. Skills include vinyl mixing, electronic music techniques, MPC 2000 sampling, field recordings, synthesizers, keyboards and music software – developed both on journeys and in the studio.

Career [Selection]

1976 Conga performer in a jazz band
1981–87 Choreographies modern Ballet in Hanover, Berlin and Munich
1983–85 Teacher in modern dance, choreography and gymnastics at VHS Berlin
1984-86 Modern ballet for André Heller [Fire theatre "Sturz durch Träume"] by L.A. Ellis, as well as in the cinema film by John Frankenheimer "The Holcroft Covenant" Dance theatre by B.Seidel
2015-today Visual artist for her music: shooting and editing music videos, photographing covers, developing visual concepts

Publications [2000-today]

Musical theatre, 2 films, 3 albums, 14 EPs, international podcasts, various national/international interviews

Stage [1999-today]

Over 400 national/international dramaturgical hybrid DJ- and ambient performances

2005 Affiliated member GEMA
2010 Resident Advisor Top 100 DJ worldwide [64th ranking]
2013 Composition "Distanz" for the Taschenopernfestival in Salzburg
2013 Lecturer Landesmusikrat NRW: "Remix Regendered Workshop"
2013 Dommune TV–Tokyo, Japan
2014 PULSA:RE with Brigitta Muntendorf; premiere: Deutschlandfunk
2015 Goethe Institut Sweden "Grammophon"
2015 Docent "Loop–A Summit for Music Makers/Ableton"
2015 Film score Ataraxya [1st prize Int.Dig.Animation Nagoya,Japan] Man on Mars filmmusic
2015 Music for the Haute Couture CHANEL Show Fall-Winter 2015/16 & Karl Lagerfeld Interview
2016 Dave-Festival, Dresden: Music/Dramaturgy for 2 modern-dancers with visuals in a cinema, assignment Dresden
2020 Extraordinary member of GEMA [composer]
2020–2024 Advanced studies in classical music theory and piano (including fugues). Conceptual and dramaturgical development of projects combining classical and contemporary music worlds, integrating new sound developments, followed by project planning supported by consecutive scholarships.

Scholarships 2× Ministry of Culture and Science NRW, 3× Musikfonds, GEMA

  • 60-minute live act with instruments for EU festivals: dramaturgy & composition
  • Piano compositions [52 minutes] for film and European stage productions
  • Electronic–orchestral interplay [Polar Q, Kynant Records 019, vinyl & digital]
  • Music trilogy: Clavier|Orchestral|Ambient. 3 CDs for publication and stage
  • Music portrait of a homeless person

2024 Music for the Haute Couture Show LOEWE Spring-Summer 2025
2025 40-minute sound installation for The Source – Astral Projections by Francisco Tavoni (Lindberg Galleries, Melbourne)
2026 Guest Curator for Electronic Music at the Art Festival Hanover Herrenhausen Germany

Press Reviews [Selection]

n.n.

Minimal Collective (Text: Brent van den Elshout)

In a world driven by volume and spectacle, Cio D’Or stands apart, mastering the power of the barely perceptible. This editorial explores her philosophy of sonic minimalism—where silence, restraint, and nuance challenge conventional ideas of presence in music. Through her creative process, live performances, and the balance between macro and micro perspectives, we uncover how Cio D’Or transforms the ‘power of less’ into a profound, intentional form of presence.

Orb Mag (Text: Cédric Finkbeiner)

Designer of an instantly recognizable sound, she produces warm and deep complex structures, constantly on a fence between light and dark cliffs, noises and silences, cinematic settings and authentic presence. Part of a family of intricated sounds brought by artists such as Aleksi Perälä, Alva Noto, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, she’s a high representative of the minimal movement. She honors painter and pioneer Frank Stella’s quote "The aim of art is to create space", she does through deep refined electronic music compositions and stripped piano pieces, delicate yet substantial. Intriguing and engaging, her musical minimalism invites the listeners to bridge gaps with their thoughts, making them active in the artistic process and, therefore, contributing to the immersive effect. The mental activity is yet effortless for them: minimalism allows a focus on the essentials, by eliminating the dispensable sonic excesses and by creating space. Such a process brings mental freedom to the listeners, by breaking through the wall that a too-dense track would normally build. On the contrary, Cio D’Or’s music is open, and inviting, with an exquisite balance between artistic depth and hopeful, melancholic intelligence.

Monument Podcast (Text: Joe Mayberry)

What’s better than a mix from electronic music royalty Cio D’Or? Two mixes. This week we present something very special, a tale told across two chapters. As a mainstay of techno for over two decades, Cio D'Or has consistently pushed boundaries, gracing the decks of revered institutions worldwide and crafting a legendary discography with releases on Prologue, Semantica, Hypnus, Time to Express and more.
Across both mixes you will hear Cio’s unparalleled ability for sculpting minimalism and sonic architecture, masterfully recontextualizing familiar and obscure tracks alike, breathing new life into them and unveiling hidden dimensions. She dissects, reassembles and creates intricate connections between disparate sounds, all flawlessly executed with an alchemist’s touch.
Prisma 33 starts at a slower tempo, delicately building into an eruption of psychedelic minimalism. Dada grows with kinetic energy, with Cio sculpting sounds and textures into a deep trip where time seems to bend and dissolve, finishing with an unexpected wildcard that only a master selector could make work.