Category Archives: People

Children’s Orchestra

As part of the art and culture project “ZU HAUSE in Prohlis”, initiated by the Societaetstheater and the Quartiersmanagement Dresden-Prohlis, a free youth music programme, “Musaik” was launched in September 2017. Founded by Luise Börner and Deborah Oehler, Musaik is specifically aimed at children from socially disadvantaged families in the district. In the first year, 25 children between the ages of 6 and 12 took part, who were able to learn a string instrument and received lessons three times a week in group classes and ensemble playing.

Together with the Cellex Foundation, which supports Musaik – Grenzenlos Musizieren e.V., the project has been expanded to the 2018/19 school year. There are currently about 70 children who are intensively learning a wind or string instrument, with the instrument being provided free of charge. The children all come from Prohlis, with approximately 60% coming from a migrant background. The lessons take place in the primary and secondary school Gamigstr. 28/30. The goal is to develop interpersonal and social skills in addition to musical and artistic education. Through regular concerts, the programme enriches cultural participation in the district and gives parents and children access to the cultural life of the city of Dresden.

www.musaik.eu

Guitarist

The Munich guitarist, composer and arranger studied jazz guitar at the Guitar Institute of Technology (Los Angeles), the Graz University of the Arts, the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki) and the Richard Strauss Conservatory (Munich) and became known as the mastermind of the German jazz metal formation Panzerballett. Over 350 appearances worldwide and at metal and jazz festivals in the last 15 years as well as 6 albums and 2 live DVDs have brought the band international cult status.

Zehrfeld has also been a sought-after sideman in numerous bands, ensembles and orchestras, including Doldinger’s Passport, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bundesjazzorchester. In the studio or on stage, he has worked with major artists such as Trilok Gurtu, Randy Brecker, Paul Gilbert, Mike Keneally, Ulf Wakenius, Gary Willis and Mattias IA Eklundh. With his profound knowledge of polyrhythmics, improvisation and fingerboard navigation on six- to eight-string guitars he currently teaches at the Popakademie Mannheim and the Music College Regensburg.

www.jan-zehrfeld.de

High resolution press photos available here.

Bass Baritone

Blazko Scaniglia lives and works in Mexico City as a singer and songwriter. His extraordinary voice and acting talent make him a hypnotic sound and stage experience. As a bass baritone he has sung concerts in renowned concert halls such as the Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris in Mexico City, the Franz Mayer Museum, the Laboratorio Arte Alameda and several others.

Together with the German new wave producers Nikolas Klau (Tuxedo Moon/Nine Rain) and Gerry Rosado (Discos Intolerancia) he produced three albums (teknonekronomikon, Ritos, Perversiones & Delirios and RetroFuturismo Musical), from which several music videos were released between 2008 and 2015.

His band La Orden Scaniglia has a large fan base due to their powerful electric guitar sound and the breath-taking riffs of bass guitar and baritone saxophone. Due to his versatile and expressive timbre, Blazko is a sought-after dubbing artist for cartoons and feature films in Mexico.

High-resolution press photos available here.

Tenor

Hazel Mendoza Fuentes studies composition at the Faculty of Music of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In 2016 he won second place in Mexico City’s renowned composition competition “Viva la canción de Autor”. Since 2017 he has been a scholarship holder of the composition workshop of the Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México under the direction of Mónica Vélez. Parallel to this, he studies improvisational theatre at Casa del Humor – Escuela Mexicana de Improvisación. He recently sharpened his musical profile through private workshops with professors such as Mauricio Díaz and David Aguilar, and with Alejandro Flores he intensively explored the traditional rhythms of Mexico. Hazel lives in Mexico City.

High-resolution press photos available here.

Music Engineer

The trained mechanic and tool-maker Peter Till, born in 1959, lives in Dresden and has been a freelance musician since 1981.

• 1983 – 1989 keyboarder, composer and arranger with the “Rocktheater Regenwiese“
• since 1992 collaboration with Dieter Beckert – “Herr Beckert & Vergissmeinnicht”
• with Dieter Beckert “Beulenspiegel – Produktion” – booking, set design, music, and direction of various theater productions
• 1998 invention of the “Universal Druckluft Orchester” and construction of various mechanical instruments
• since 2007 on solo tour with “Music on wheels”

The music mechanic is simultaneously inventor, builder and operator, which accounts for the reliability of the highly functional musical apparatus.

www.druckluftorchester.de

High resolution photos available here.

Composer

Enrico Chapela is one of Latin America’s most exciting young talents of contemporary music. He received his education at the Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música (CIEM) in his hometown Mexico City and at the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (UK) and the Trinity College of London. In 2000 he began to compose, supported by various scholarships, including the National Fund for Arts and Culture (FONCA) and the CIEM. From 2006-2009 he worked as a guitarist and composer in Paris, where he graduated in 2008 with composition studies at the University of St. Denis with Horacio Vaggione and José Manuel López López with the Maîtrise. He received his doctorate in musicology from the University of St. Denis with Ivanka Stoianova and José Manuel López López. Since 2009 he again lives in Mexico.

Chapela’s works have received many awards, including the International Rostrum of Composers by UNESCO, the Mexican Music Tribune and the Alexander Zemlinsky Composition Competition. His best known work is the orchestral piece ínguesu, which uses the battle cries of the fans in the Mexico-Brazil final of the FIFA Confederations Cup in 1999 as a thematic and rhythmic material and translates it into a virtuoso, rhythmic and colour exploding score.

Enrico Chapela has been commissioned to compose new works for orchestras and ensembles worldwide, among them the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dresdner Sinfoniker, Berkeley Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and many others. His music has been performed in Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe by performers such as the Chicago Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Jenaer Philharmonie, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Argentina, Orquesta Brasileira, London Sinfonietta and many, many more.

Some of the conductors that have conducted his music include: Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Marin Alsop, Joana Carneiro, Krzysztof Urbanski, Alondra de la Parra, Andrew Cyr, Cliff Colnot, José Luis Castillo, José Areán, Joshua Dos Santos, Mark Gibson, Giancarlo Guerrero, Jason Love, Pascal Rophé, Stefan Asbury, Nicholas Milton, Daryl Pratt, Clark Rundell, Max Lifchitz, David Alan Miller, Enrique Barrios, Diego Matheuz, Olari Elts, Eckart Preu, Darrel Ang, Miguel Salmón de Real, Leslie Dunner, Luis Gorelik, Marcos Arkakaki, Germán Tort, Roberto Beltrán, Garry Walker, Edwin Outwater, Roberto Minczuk, Iván del Prado, Niksa Bareza, David Bloom and Jorge Mester.

Chapela has also composed Mexican film scores: “Somos lo que hay”, directed by Jorge Michel Grau, obtaining a nomination for best original music score at the Mexican Film Academy 2011. “Amar no es querer”, directed by Guillermo Barba, was selected “Best Original Music Score” at the “Pantalla de Cristal” film festival.

Enrico Chapela’s music has been broadcasted in more than 40 countries all over the world. He teaches composition at NICO academy, and hosts a contemporary music radio show called METAMUSICA, broadcasted at OPUS 94 radio station.

Keyboardist

Andreas Gundlach, born in Hanover in 1975, began studying piano at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music after completing his civil service in Dresden in 1995. As a second major he chose composition with Rainer Lischka. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Dresdner Sinfoniker, with whom he has performed several world premieres of contemporary compositions in Germany and abroad.

After completing his studies, he began working with KORG, one of the largest manufacturers of synthesizers and keyboards. Here he developed his expertise as a musical programmer. A broad spectrum through all genres of world music is reflected in the internationally distributed music and sound compositions that he has designed.

Gundlach has been working with the Chinese singer Ni Xan Quin since 2016. Together they combine traditional Chinese singing with Tibetan influences and modern, electronic sound-art. With the collaboration, NINIANDI won the highest award at the “Silk Road Festival” of the city of Xi’an in China in September 2016.

Since his studies Andreas Gundlach has been making a living from his music, mainly as a piano or keyboard accompanist. He has extensive experience in the field of improvisation of piano compositions. As a music arranger he has written several commissioned works, including for commercial orchestral ensembles.

www.der-multitasking.de

High resolution photos available here.

Pianist

Hailed by critics as Monsieur 100,000 Volts, pianist Andreas Boyde’s performances have electrified audiences worldwide. Having secured a reputation as an esteemed artist, he has appeared as a soloist with internationally renowned orchestras, such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Radio Orchestra, the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, the Zürich Kammerorchester, the Miami Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Hallé Orchestra Manchester, the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, the Dresden Sinfoniker, the London Mozart Players, the Berliner Sinfonieorchester and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, among others. Furthermore, he was appointed by the Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt Artist in Residence for the season 2018/19.

Boyde has concertised internationally in Austria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA and Vietnam. Venues where he has appeared to acclaim include Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall London, Cologne Philharmonic Hall, Zürich Tonhalle, Munich Herkulessaal, Symphony Hall Birmingham, Berlin Konzerthaus, Munich Philharmonic Hall, Hamburg Musikhalle, Teatro Municipal Santiago de Chile, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Prinzregenten Theatre and Pierpont Morgan Library New York.

Andreas Boyde has premiered contemporary compositions such as Paul Schoenfield’s Piano Concerto Four Parables for the European Premiere, and John Pickard’s Piano Concerto dedicated to Boyde himself. The pianist has recorded the entire piano works of Johannes Brahms for OehmsClassics in coproduction with Westdeutscher Rundfunk on CD. Boyde’s reconstruction of the Schubert Variations by Robert Schumann, published by Hofmeister Musikverlag, testifies to his interest in musicology. For the first time, this work was heard in New York as part of a Schumann piano recital and has since received much attention. Numerous radio and television recordings as well as CD releases complete his musical works.

Andreas Boyde was born in Oschatz, Germany, where he entered the Book of Honour in 2012. He studied with Christa Holzweißig and Amadeus Webersinke in Dresden and subsequently with James Gibb in London at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. His mentor and promoter Malcolm Frager also proved a major influence. He now lives in London.

www.andreasboyde.com

High resolution photos available here.

Percussionist

Grammy Award winning percussionist Shane Shanahan has cultivated his own unique and highly sought after sound by combining his studies of drumming traditions from around the world with his background in jazz, rock and western music. His interest in other cultures has led to extended visits to Turkey, India, and Tajikistan, among others where he has performed alongside local musicians.

Shanahan is a founding member of the Silk Road Ensemble. He is also a member of TaKaDiMi Ensemble and the Provenance Project. He has performed and/or recorded with Bobby McFerrin, Aretha Frankin, Philip Glass, Alison Krause, Sonny Fortune, Deep Purple, Jordi Savall, Fantasia, Chaka Khan, G. E. Smith, Simon Shaheen, Jamey Haddad, Cyro Baptista, Anindo Chaterjee, Sandeep Das, Shahram Nazeri, Alim Qasimov, Kayhan Kalhor, Howard Levy and Steve Gorn, among others.

He was one of the two high-profile guest musicians in Sam Medes’ Bridge Project from 2010. His first solo album was released in January 2011. Shane Shanahan has appeared on radio and television programs in North America, Europe and Asia. He has taught at major universities, including Princeton, Harvard and the University of New York.

Violinist

Sa’ad Mohamed Hassan was born in Egypt in 1940. He began his musical studies at the Music Institute in Elminia with Professor Mahmoud Younis. Later he continued his studies at the Cairo Conservatory. Hassan is regarded as a pioneer of violin playing within Arabic music. He has performed with such great names as Mohamed Abd El Wahab, Om Kulthoum, Nagat and others.

Hassan has been Professor of Violin at the Cairo Academy of Arts since 1978. He has also performed with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and taken part in a number of recordings for Egyptian television and radio. Concert tours have taken him to the USA, England, France, Syria and Lebanon. He received awards for his work in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Egypt.