BERLIN SOLO IMPRO
multiple artists Music festivals focusing on solo improvisation are still scarce. Curator Volker Meitz has succeeded in establishing an annual forum for this special and intimate form of musical performance, which is already taking place for the fourth time. This year, for the first time, international musicians are also in the line-up.
In Berlin's Acker Stadt Palast, over three days, a total of 15 artists who are at home in very different musical universes can be experienced. In a city that is considered to be one of Europe's centers not only for experimental forms of music, Volker Meitz can draw from a wide range of sources. This year he took the next step and also invited national and international improvisers, such as cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm from the USA, trombonist Marie Bertel from Denmark and accordionist Zbiginew Chojnacki from Poland. John Eckhardt (bass), John-Dennis Renken (trumpet) and Enrico Sartori (clarinets) will travel from northern, western and southern Germany respectively. Each evening, three Berliners will meet one national and one international performer.
At the beginning of each evening there is an introductory panel discussion with the five musicians, after which they give solo performances of about 20 minutes each. The contrasting conclusion of each evening is the joint finale: here all five participants deliver a collective improvisation in which they must react to each other accordingly, while in the solo context they were still alone with themselves and the audience. Thus we get to know the musicians from different sides, which promises an evening that is as artistically valuable as it is entertaining.
The stylistic framework of the festival is broad: from echtzeitmusik/real-time music, jazz, new music and electronic music, the overlapping area of the invited musicians stretches, who play their instruments purely acoustically, through amplifiers or through chains of electronic effects - up to the instrumental statement "Samples & Feedback" with Nicolas Wiese. Between experimental noise and melodic harmonics, everything is possible here, integrated by the bracket of solo improvisation as the core concept of the festival.
The line-up promises excitement not least because it includes both experienced solo improvisers such as Andrea Parkins, as well as musicians who are presenting a complete solo performance for the first time - such as tenor saxophonist Philipp Gropper.
Start: 19:30 // Admission: 19:00h
Schedule: panel discussion / 5 solo performances each approx. 20 min. / joint finale
LINE-UP
Tuesday 28.9.
IDO BUKELMAN - acoustic guitar, banjo
PHILIPP GROPPER - tenor saxophone
ANDREA PARKINS - amplified objects, electronics
JOHN ECKHARDT (Hamburg) - electric bass, electronics
MARIA BERTEL (DK) - amplified trombone
Wednesday 29.9.
MEINRAD KNEER - double bass
LIZ ALLBEE - trumpet, electronics
NICOLAS WIESE - Samples & Feedback
ENRICO SARTORI (Munich) - clarinets
ZBIGNIEW CHOJNACKI (PL) - accordion, electronics
Thursday 30.9.
RUDI FISCHERLEHNER - drums
JOHN-DENNIS RENKEN (Essen) - trumpet, electronics
MARC SCHMOLLING - piano
JULIA REIDY - guitar, electronics
www.berlin-solo-impro.de
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Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Berliner Senatsverwaltung für Kultur & Europa
