My Deepest Soul
My piano teacher did kick me out, in the end. I was 14. I just came off stage after a dismal performance in front of my school. I went home and swore to never play sheet music again. But my love for the piano was too strong to let go, so I started composing. I figured that playing my own music would prevent people spotting mistakes; it worked and I never looked back!
When I turned 18, I did want to become a concert pianist. My mother, however, thought it was a bad idea as she wanted me to take up a “serious profession”. And she was right. Most likely. Anyway, whilst I studied physics and then engineering, I kept composing one album after another. Later, when back in London, I started to perform too which was not easy given my fiasco when I was 14.
My piano compositions and improvisations are now available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora and another 200 global music platforms. I have published 5 albums so far. The 5th Album, “Stories From Another World”, was launched in Los Angeles 21 March 2017 in front of 4,000 people.
NYC/London-based artist Ali Hossaini has been using my first piece of my 5th album “Stories From Another World” for his incredibly powerful visual exhibit “Ouroboros” at the 2016 NY Times arts conference “Art for Tomorrow“. Verbatim citation from the event website: “London-based composer Mischa Dohler has created original music for the Art for Tomorrow Qatar exhibition.”
Timeless Memories
9 March 2014, my sister Anita Döhler and I lost our younger brother Eddie. He was such a beautiful soul. It’s been more than 10 years now. He succumbed to glioblastoma, a rare yet terminal cancer. If only medicine had been in 2014 what it is now – he may have stood a chance.
Anyway, I was thinking a lot if to publish this very personal message, but I wanted to share the one lesson my little brother has taught us:
𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲.
We are taught by the machinery of society to study hard, work, family, career – in one word, to find our purpose. He was different. He saw across time, space, societal rules. His happiness was deep inside. Like a small but persistent flame. Until it was no more.
It took me years to process his absence. The void which never got filled. Only many years later did I find the strength to compose “Timeless Memories” for him. The piece I love to play most. The piece I struggle to play most.
Yet, I found myself on stage again and again, playing Timeless Memories. Barcelona, London, San Diego … as if he is there, watching me and encouraging me to overcome by piano performance stage fright.
Anita and I are grateful to all the people who have supported him, unconditionally, over his last years, months and days. Rest in peace, our little brother ❤️.
#5 – Stories From Another World
It took me more than one year to compose this album. The reason it took so long is because I expanded my composition skills beyond a single piano. It all culminated in my first full orchestral work “Gates To Auroris”.
I started to compose Ouroboros after an intriguing conversation with world renown artist Ali Hossaini. He was after a spiritual piece for his powerful exhibit. I tried a few tunes and settled for the calm & meditational tune you can hear now. The arts exhibition was a success!
The Dance Of Two Worlds was composed as a wedding present for my dear friends Jeff and Rayn. I imagined their two worlds to unite on their wedding day, and the excitement which goes with it. The accelerating pace is due to the developing resonance.
Timeless Memories is one of my favourite pieces when I play it on the piano. In fact, it is the piece I perform most. It is in memory to my late brother, Eddie, whom I loved very much.
Very Me is, well, very me. Deep inside. It is a very innate and gentle piece. It is how I feel whilst I reflect on the past week and contemplate over the future … over a glass of whiskey and a good cigar.
And then there is my Gates To Auroris. I composed the theme at my father’s place in the middle of the country side. I settled on a unique mix of major and minor keys, which I feel gives this piece the distinctive urgent character: I imagined Auroris as an imaginary Kingdom reachable through some magic gates.
#4 – Black Tulips
I love this album. I am listening to it virtually every day, and night! I just kept composing, and composing. Some of these pieces were improvised, and others carefully crafted.
Take the piece Ana for instance. I composed it immediately after I heard Ana, the painter who also painted the cover to this album, play it on my piano. She has no formal piano education but I loved the tune and it ended up being a wonderful piece in a different style.
Black Tulips is made of extraordinary complex harmonics which are sweet and dark at the same time. The resonance I developed with the piano whilst composing it is well reflected in the evolving harmonics and keys. One of my all-time favourites!
Deep Inside Me starts rather ordinarily but becomes very, very gentle and innate fairly quickly. It is an improvisation and I must have gotten lost in thoughts, and space, and in time. Love it!
Eight Brothers is a piece which just flows and has some beautiful musical transitions. I know you will ask but I never figured out why I called the piece as is.
This album gave me a lot of encouragement for my music career. I felt that after having mastered some really complex tunes, I would be able to compose orchestral pieces. It also gave me confidence to perform again in front of a larger audience. I have hence started exploring such opportunities again.
#3 – Nothing Can Stop You
This is a very energetic album, from the beginning to the end. The compositions here are a significant departure from my previous style which was calmer. These pieces were written when there were substantial changes – both positive and negative – in my life.
A Little Jazzy is probably the only piece in my current repertoire which has some jazzy tunes. Unbeknown to most, I took some jazz classes just after school (and after 12 years of classical piano) and before university.
I so love Dreaming Ahead and Easter Weather! I was surprised about the complex and sophisticated yet fast-paced melodies I was able to compose. They influenced the style of all subsequent pieces.
Playful Encounter was written after I have seen how two dogs in a park in London have greeted each other. They must have seen each other not even 24h earlier but yet their energy and love at the same time was remarkable.
Saying Goodbye Hello marked the beginning of a new life for me.
After I had listened to the complete album a few times, I felt so energized that it didn’t take long for a title to emerge. “Nothing Can Stop You” felt very powerful, in fact equally empowering as the music itself. I am often using it today to prepare me mentally for my big stage appearances.
#2 – Full Moon Relax
This album contains a compilation of some of the quieter and gentler pieces I have composed. I often listen to it whilst falling asleep. The quiet rhythms calm me down from often hectic days at work. It contains some very emotional pieces which mean a lot to me.
Only a year after the tragic and unjust death of my beloved brother Eddie did I get myself to compose one piece for him. In Loving Memories invokes a lot of emotions in me. It summarizes all the beautiful years we spent together, dreaming about the future. The future is now only left to me. I miss you, brother. A lot!
Tender Memories Of First Kiss came about when I was asked how the first kiss felt like. A question I never contemplated; I immediately translated the answer into music. From a composition point of view, it was also the first piece where I combined two instruments which turned out to be more complex than thought.
Breaking Apart was written during a time when nothing worked, people let me down. Night refused to become day. It was a time when I felt to break apart.
Regarding the name of the album: the pieces are very calm and thus the name somehow lends itself naturally. Another wonderful coincidence was that the album was launched at full moon. The cover was painted by a very talented artist, Gemma Guilera. She did a mixed media collage for the cover which depicted me playing my piano (sonata) by moonlight. Beethoven anybody?
#1 – Those Free Years
This album was never meant to be an album. After decades of recording my improvisations and compositions, I decided to pick the best pieces. And these are the few selected ones which form part of this album. Most of the pieces were still recorded with my old analogue studio equipment. It makes them sound a little warmer than my more modern pieces.
The early compositions were the beginning of a new era for me. Despite my piano teacher telling me I got no talent, I found the piano the perfect retreat for “writing the diary of the day”. What was for years a burden turned into a blessing. I started to see and feel keys and harmonics; I loved to break classical rules and often changed rhythm and keys in a single piece. Then, a Record Label picked me up. And the rest is history …
A good friend painter wrote to me: “I listen to Those Free Years, especially Sweet Past Future and So Confused Again and feel compelled to fill my largest brush with Japanese ink and paint. The rhythms and movement of the music are uniquely aligned with my brushstrokes.”
Gentle Thoughts and So Far Back In Time are some of my oldest pieces. They are dedicated to my then girlfriend Anja who was far from me at the time I wrote these compositions.
Why the album name, “Those Free Years”? Well, these were free years. These were some of the best years. Free of fear and duties. Just out of the house and away from parents; but not yet with heavy responsibilities.
Albums
Improvs
Concerts
Massive Attack
Last but not least, just wanted to say that I also worked with some well-known and amazing artists.
I have for instance become good friend of Rob del Naja, founder and lead artist of the famous British band Massive Attack. ❤️
Very excited to have been part of the AI and robotics painting project, as covered by Wired.
Piano @ Branson’s
In 2017, I was invited to the house of Sam Branson, son of Richard Branson. We had a great afternoon discussing all things life!
At some point, he asked me to play his old family grand piano. I decided to play “Timeless Memories”, of my 5th album “Stories From Another World”.
A great afternoon that was! ❤️