stage: Improvisation International

Tian

Location: exploratorium berlin, Saal

Concert series Improvisation International

Judith Wegmann (CH): piano
Burkhard Schlothauer (DE): violin, viola
Angelika Sheridan (DE): flute
Julien Pontvianne (FR): clarinet, tenor saxophone
Ulrich Phillipp (DE): double bass

Tian brings together five musicians from Germany, France and Switzerland who share an affinity for silence, slowness and intense listening to sound. They make use of traditional and experimental instrumental styles and eschew soloistic gestures in favour of a collective sound. The result is a collective music of ascetic sensuality.

Judith Wegmann started playing the piano at the age of six. She studied at the Lucerne Jazz School and the Swiss Jazz School in Bern. She then completed her studies in classical music in Lucerne and Neuchâtel. She attended master classes in Switzerland, France and Austria. In 2014 she completed another master’s degree with professors Fred Frith and Alfred Zimmerlin at the Basel School of Music. During this time, in addition to free improvisation, she intensively studied new music. In recent years, the pianist has worked intensively on the theme of time. She has also explored the music of John Cage and the late works of Morton Feldman. “I have been exploring the theme of time from an artistic point of view for years. I wanted to see what happens to me, to the space and to the body in extremely long performances. It’s about the experience of time, transience, passing and rebirth, which are all aspects of time. Of course with the history of each life.”

Saxophonist, clarinettist and composer Julien Pontvianne draws on various musical traditions – from Renaissance masses or Indonesian gamelan to the music of Sonic Youth, Paul Motian or Morton Feldman – to realise his vision of slowness. He follows a path inspired by Gérard Grisey’s ecology of sound or Salvatore Sciarrino’s ecology of listening. With groups such as the clarinet quartet Watt, the large ensemble AUM, Kepler or Abhra, he invites us to a kind of hedonistic asceticism, a stirring meditation. Alongside his explorations as a leader, Julien Pontvianne is also a founding member of the label and collective Onze Heures Onze, one of the most vibrant players on the new Paris scene. He plays in bands ranging from 20s swing oldies to experimental rock and contemporary music. Julien Pontvianne graduated with distinction from the Paris Conservatoire CNSMDP in 2009, won numerous prizes and played in New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Montreal, China, Japan, India, Colombia and throughout Europe.

Angelika Sheridan studied classical flute at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen and was awarded the Folkwang Prize in 1990. She went on to study with John Heiss and Ran Blake at the New England Conservatory in Boston. As a flutist (bass and C flute) she speaks her own unmistakable language of sound. Combining traditional sound production with her own contemporary playing techniques, she redefines the sound of her instrument beyond flute stereotypes. Sheridan is internationally active in the field of new and improvised music, playing with Ensemble Hiatus, Multiple Joyce Orchestra, Insub Meta Orchestra, Ensemble X, as well as in intermedia contexts with dance and silent film. As a member of the collective impakt (improvisation and contemporary music) and as a board member of kgnm (Kölner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik), she is involved in various networks that shape concert life in the Cologne area. She lives in Cologne and teaches improvisation, didactics and flute at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.

Burkhard Schlothauer: Since 1993 numerous performances of his compositions at festivals and concert series in Germany (Klub Katarakt at Kampnagel Hamburg, Akademie der Künste Berlin, Kunstraum Düsseldorf, Cage Festival at Stadthaus Ulm, Alte Feuerwache Köln, BKA Berlin, Volksbühne Berlin, Klangzeit Münster, TAM/Krefeld as part of the Niederrheinischer Herbst), France (Festival GMne Marseille), Switzerland (Moments Musicaux in the Kunsthalle Aarau), Austria (Wiener Festwochen, Donaufestival Krems), Belgium, Holland (Museum of Modern Art Utrecht), USA (CalArts), Great Britain (BBC Festival Grundelweiser in London), Brazil (Festival Escutera Rio de Janeiro), Czech Republic (Argonfestival Prague), Slovenia, Croatia (Musikbiennale Zagreb) and others. Numerous radio and CD recordings of his works. Since 1993 member of the Wandelweiser Komponistenensemble, violinist in the Ensemble Zeitkratzer. Duo with Ulrich Phillipp (live processing). Concert tours in Brazil, USA, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Spain, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Greece, Japan, Sweden, Norway, etc. Festivals (selection): Ruhrtriennale, Jazzfest Berlin, Wiener Festwochen, Musikbiennale Zagreb, Humanoise Congress Wiesbaden, MaerzMusik Berlin, Donaufestival Krems, Meteo Mulhouse and others.

Since the early 1980s Ulrich Phillipp’s activities have focused on improvised and experimental music as well as sound installations and audio art. In addition to developing his own playing techniques, he began to expand the sound spectrum of the double bass with live electronic means. He worked with the SensorLab of the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) Amsterdam and developed complex patches for sound processing with the MAX/MPS software (ircam/cycling74). These are used in concert contexts as well as in sound installations. Ulrich Phillipp has performed at venues and festivals in almost all European countries, Japan and Mexico. His musical work is documented on over 50 CDs and records. He has scored films and dance performances and collaborated in cross-media projects with numerous visual artists, dancers and actors. He appreciates being a member of groups that work over a long period of time as well as playing in ad hoc situations.

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9gi5EcvwuY