Hawtin Provides “Evolving Soundscape” for Torino Olympics Opening Ceremony

I loved his spare, angular, kinetic techno workouts in the ’90s as Plastikman, which I slapped on many a perplexed club turntable at the time; but Canadian producer, DJ, remixer, electronic music innovator Richie Hawtin has come a long way since then, all the way to Torino, Italy, in fact, where he has been invited to provide music for the Opening Ceremony of the XXth Olympics Winter Games on February 10, expected to be watched on TV by two billion spectators around the globe.

Opening Ceremony producers K2006 invited the globetrotting Hawtin to collaborate with renowned Italian choreographer Enzo Cosimi on a key section of the opening, which has “rhythm, passion and speed” as its themes. Hawtin created a new composition entitled “9:20,” which will accompany Cosimi’s provocative choreography featuring Italian dancer Robert Bolle along with dozens of other dancers, performers and acrobats. Hawtin and Cosimi worked together in Hawtin’s Berlin studio to build an “evolving soundscape” of music and effects to heighten the drama and emotion of the piece.

“Enzo and I are very much interested in pushing boundaries, both as artists and for our audiences. Working together for the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Games delivers the creative [opportunity] to not only entertain a huge audience, but to also introduce them to sights and sounds that they may have never experienced before,” said Hawtin from his studio in Berlin.

Born in England and raised in Windsor, Ontario (just across the border from Detroit), Hawtin is one of electronic music’s more interesting and in-demand performers. His recent DJ album, DE9 | Transitions, on Mute, boasts a sizzling “time, amplitude and space” 5.1 surround sound DVD mix and a traditional CD mix as well.