Michael R. Bernstein — Musician and Installation Artist
Michael R. Bernstein is a musician, composer, and installation artist who often builds instruments and devices to interact with in an experimental music setting. He is interested in the interaction of light and sound, repetition and minimalism, networked devices, and granular synthesis. He has an MFA from the Parsons School of Design in Design and Technology, and formerly ran the Heavy Tapes cassette label, performed over 100 live shows with improvised quartet Double Leopards, and started an art rock band called Religious Knives with his best friend and wife, Maya E. Miller. He has released music on the Sacred Bones, Ecstatic Peace!, Feeding Tube, and Eclipse Records labels, and currently releases music and books on his own MRBCO imprint.
Installations and Projects:
- 97 BPM Dream Chord Prime Number Search for Four Organs by the Blue Tape Human Liberation Orchestra — at the 10th International Conference on Music and Minimalism, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, May 7–10, 2026.
- Blue Tape Human Liberation Orchestra — The BTHLO is an investigation into the intersection of music, robotics, and repetition. An answer to the question, “What if humans didn’t actually have to make music anymore?”, the BTHLO currently consists of an automated guitar, two pipe organs, several chord organs, percussion, mallet instruments, and more.
- Sensing/Sending — Custom hardware and software created for this performance at Rhizome. Motors and lights are controlled by MIDI patterns sent from Ableton Live. Light sensors mounted on the homemade screen send MIDI data back to Ableton, which triggers sounds.
- About Time — combines processed contact microphone recordings from mid-20th century watches and clocks with shadow sculptures I made using enlarged laser-cut watch parts (assisted by artist Meghan Raham), commodity flashlights, and product display spinning platforms. And a lot of hot glue.
- Suite for Arnold — An electroacoustic composition, paired with a booklet I wrote to go along with it, exploring mental illness, art, and family. Dedicated to my great uncle Arnold Tierkel, who I never met.
Next live performance:
May 26, 2026 w/ Sarah Hughes and Gerswyn Foster at Rhizome
Recent press:
“Michael R. Bernstein doesn’t need everyone to love his ‘weird music’” by Lydia Sidhom in the Washington Post
Physical Releases:
Releases on Bandcamp:
Previous live performances: