GÂT brings together four distinct musical voices in a raw, energetic form of chamber music. The quartet’s polyphonic music emerges from the interplay of Isabelle Duthoit’s radical vocal style, Joe Hertenstein’s influences from the New York avant-garde jazz scene, Claudia Ulla Binder’s forceful keyboard patterns and inside-piano playing, and Alexander Frangenheim’s drive towards musical ruptures. Rather than following traditional role assignments, the four musicians develop their individual voices independently, setting them in counterpoint with one another. Energy and silence, flowing transitions and abrupt interruptions shape a music that unfolds through immediate interaction.
Isabelle Duthoit studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur in Lyon and initially worked with composers such as Georges Aperghis, Gilbert Amy, Daniele D’Adamo and Klaus Huber. She later turned increasingly towards free improvisation. During a 2008 fellowship at the Villa Kujoyama in Japan, where she explored the rituals of Nō theatre, she developed her distinctive vocal style, characterised by great intensity. Alongside numerous ad hoc ensembles, she performs, among others, in a duo with Franz Hautzinger.
Claudia Ulla Binder is one of the pioneers of inside-piano playing and has helped shape numerous extended playing techniques. After studying and performing contemporary composed music, she turned to free improvisation in 1980, inspired by a workshop with George Lewis at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock. She has worked with musicians including John Butcher, John Russell and Lol Coxhill, plays in a trio with Christian Weber and Dieter Ulrich, and is a member of the internationally composed tentet Pack of Ten.
Alexander Frangenheim has been active in free improvisation since the late 1980s. He has performed with Günter Christmann’s vario 34 and the ensemble zeitkratzer, and has developed numerous projects at the intersection of music and dance, including collaborations with Julyen Hamilton and Benoît Lachambre. Under the label concepts of doing, he organised 18 festivals dedicated to improvisation, new music and interaction with dance.
Joe Hertenstein is a drummer who has long been part of the New York avant-garde jazz scene. After early experiences with classical music as well as rock and punk bands, he found his way to free improvisation through jazz. He works with musicians from a wide range of improvisational and stylistic backgrounds. He approaches music as an ongoing exploration of new possibilities in playing with others. Today, he lives and works between Berlin and Brooklyn and is part of the jazz and improvisation scenes in both cities.
