Category Archives: People

Composer

Vache Sharafyan, one of Armenia’s most renowned composers with an international reputation. In 1985 he won the prestigious All-Union Composers Competition in the Soviet Union. Until 1990 he studied at the State Conservatory of Yerevan, completing a postgraduate degree in 1992 under Eduard Mirzojan. Subsequently he was professor for music theory and sacred music at the Jerusalem Theological Armenian Seminary until 1996.

In 1998 and 2004 he took part in the Bowling Green Festival of New Music and Arts in the US, as well as the Buffalo Festival in 2002 and 2003.  Vache Sharafyan has established a longstanding collaboration and friendship with, amongst others, the viola player Juri Baschmet and the Cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Since 2001 he has been composing music for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, which performed The Morning Scent of the Acacias Song for duduk and string orchestra, and The Sun, The Wine and the Wind of Time for duduk, violin, cello and piano in, amongst other places, Cologne, Brussels, Amsterdam, Rome, Florence, Milan, Carnegie Hall, Stanford University and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall. In addition to works of chamber music, Sharafyan has composed choir music, works for symphonic orchestra, as well as the opera King Abgar. His oeuvre contains more than eighty compositions, amongst them, symphonic works, chamber and vocal music, opera and ballet.  Sharafyan’s music is performed in concert halls and at festivals all around the world.

High resolution photos available here.

Composer

Zeynep Gedizlioğlu, born in Izmir (Turkey), studied composition under Cengiz Tanc, Theo Brandmüller, Ivan Fedele and Wolfgang Rihm, as well as music theory under Michael Reudenbach. Between 2010 and 2011, she worked at the electro-acoustic music research centre IRCAM in Paris. She has taught at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul, and gave a master class in composition at Bilkent University in Ankara.

Her compositions have been performed at international festivals, such as ‘MITo Settembre Musica’, Strasbourg, ‘ISCM World New Music Days’, Maerz Musik, Beethovenfest Bonn, Eclat Stuttgart, Wien Modern, Salzburger Festspiele and at the Wittener Tage für Neue Musik. Her works have been performed live on radio at SR2 Kultur Radio, Acik Radyo Istanbul, Radio France Musique, SWR2, SRF2 Kultur, hr2 Kultur, ORF1 and many others. She regularly collaborates with the soloists of the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, with the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, Ensemble Modern, ensemble recherche, Accroche Note, Ensemble 2e2m, Oenm Ensemble, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Arditti Quartet, who have premiered many of her works. Some of her works have been released on CD, among them the portrait CD Zeynep Gedizlioğlu: Kesik (collegno), with the support of the Siemens Music Foundation. In 2012, she won the Ernst von Siemens Composers’ Prize and in 2014 she received the “Composer of the Year” award at the 5th Donizetti Classical Music Awards in Istanbul.

www.zeynepgedizlioglu.com

High resolution photos available here.

Conductor

The composer and conductor Andrea Molino was born in Turin and lives in Zurich. Molino was musical director of the Pocket Opera Company in Nuremberg from 1996 to 2007,. His projects the smiling carcass (1999) and Those Who Speak in A Faint Voice (2001, on the topic of the death penalty) were early manifestations of his commitment to an innovative, multimedia-oriented music theatre. From 2000 to 2006, Andrea Molino was also artistic director of Fabrica Musica, where he created the multimedia project CREDO, centred on ethnic and religious conflicts (Karlsruhe & Rome, 2004; Brisbane, 2006), and WINNERS (Brisbane & Paris, 2006). In 2009, he conducted the Orchestra della Fenice in the Basilica die Frari in Venice for his multimedia concert Of Flowers and Flames, commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster in India. The premiere of Three Mile Island , about the nuclear accident in Pennsylvania in 1979, took place in 2012 at the ZKM Karlsruhe, the Italian premiere followed at the Teatro India in Rome.

His latest music theatre project- qui non c’è perché- (Here there is no reason); a quote from Primo Levi’s If This Is A Man) premiered in April 2014 at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and was performed at the OperaXXI Festival at deSingel in Antwerp.

As a conductor, he has conducted Puccini’s Tosca in Melbourne (2014) and La Bohème  at the Sydney Opera House (2015). In Sydney he has also conducted Verdi’s A Masked Ball (staged by La Fura dels Baus) and Macbeth, amongst other works. He opened the 2010 concert season at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice with the world premiere of Bruno Maderna’s Requiem, where he had previously conducted Heiner Goebbel’s Surrogate Cities as part of the Venice Music Biennale. With the Dresdner Sinfoniker he shares a longstanding working relationship, as well as a sincere friendship.

www.andreamolino.net

High resolution photos available here.

Drummer & Percussionist

Heiko Jung was born in 1971 in Mühlhausen / Thuringia. Since the age of seven he took drum and piano lessons and consequently studied classical drums and timpani at the Franz Liszt School of Music in Weimar. In addition to his studies, he has attended numerous workshops and took lessons from people like Jeff Hamilton, Jeff Hirshfield, John Marshall, Jojo Mayer, Ed Soph, Gary Chaffee, Steve Smith and Ari Hoenig. Since October 2000 he has taught drums (jazz-pop-rock) at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig. Tours have taken him to France, Italy, Switzerland, Tunisia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Mexico, Lithuania and Thailand. Since 1998, he has lived in Dresden and is a much sought-after musician, performing regularly with many different bands of different genres.

Heiko has already worked with Rhoda Scott, Jocelyn B. Smith, Alberto Marsico, Dirk Michaelis, Matthias Baetzel Trio, Kim Fisher, David Gazarov, Uschi Brüning, Bill Ramsey, Veronika Fischer, Sammy DeLuxe, Jiggs Whigham, Paul Kuhn and Jan Josef Liefers, Axel Prahl, Joey DeFrancesco, Lorenzo Frizzera, Ulla Meinecke, Bobo in White Wooden Houses, Clueso, Wolfgang Schlueter, Sharrie Williams, Barbara Dennerlein, Frank Nimsgern, Kirk Fletcher, Tad Robinson, Jeff Cascaro, SILLY feat. Anna Loos, Ute Freudenberg, Deborah Sasson, Angelika Milster, Jonny Logan, Katja Epstein, Mario Adorf, Dominique Horwitz, Ben Becker, Katharina Thalbach, Gitte Haenning, Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Dresdner Sinfoniker, German Film Orchestra Babelsberg, Ostrock in Klassik 2007 – 2010, Roland Kaiser, Andreas Bourani, Matthias Reim, ElaiZa, ADORO, Northern Lite, Max Mutzke, Marit Larsen, Stefanie Heinzmann, Bürger Lars Dietrich, Jürgen Drews and many others.

High resolution photos available here.

Cellist

Stephan Braun is considered one of the most interesting cellists in the European jazz scene. He has played concerts with well-known musicians and ensembles, including Melody Gardot, Nils Landgren, Gil Goldstein, Chris Hinze, Don Thomson, Till Broenner, Giora Feidman and Kristjan Randalu. Trained as a classical and jazz cellist at the conservatories in Hamburg and Berlin, he and his trio won the 2010 International Jazz Competition in Bucharest. Concert performances have taken him to Asia, North America, Africa and Europe, while he has performed at well-known stages and festivals, such as the Vienna State Opera, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Berlin, Olympia Theatre Paris and Pori Jazz Festival in Finland.

Braun has participated in more than 20 CD productions and has produced two of his own albums- With his trio’s debut album (2008) he clarifies that the cello has a place in jazz, bringing the Groove! In spring 2012 his duo “Deep Strings” released their CD “Façon” on nrw-Records.

He teaches at the Jazzinstitut Berlin and at the University of Music, Theatre and Media in Hannover. Currently Stephan Braun lives as a musician in Berlin.

www.stefanbraun.com

High resolution photos available here.

Pianist

Rolf Zielke works in international contemporary jazz projects and with Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and oriental musicians: his musical bridge from Jazz and South America to the music of the Middle East has shaped his artistic profile in a special way. With this musical background, he performs compositions of Classical as well as Modern Music. He has worked with Charlie Mariano, Thomas Quasthoff, Mike Stern, Hendrik Meurkens and David Friedman amongst many others.

Tours have already taken Rolf around the world: USA (New York, El Paso, Florida, Washington DC), Cuba, Algeria, Cameroon, China, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Iraq, Mexico and to 15 European countries (concerts in London, Madrid, Zurich, Rome, Warsaw, St. Petersburg, Istanbul).

Rolf Zielke’s ensembles have received 13 awards at the jazz competition “Jazzpodium Niedersachsen” (1986, ’89 to ’91, ’93, ’95 to 2002). He received three awards at the Berlin Senate’s “Studiowettbewerb”: “Rolf Zielke Trio feat. Mustafa Boztüy” (2001); “Duo Zielke / Boztüy” (2004); Rolf Zielke’s “Hot Impressions” (2006)

Since 1997 Rolf Zielke lives in Berlin and teaches jazz piano at the University of Potsdam and at the Berlin universities Jazz Institute Berlin (JIB), Hanns Eisler and UdK.

The most important CDs:
2016 – Hot Impressions Vol. 2 feat. Peter Weniger
2013 – “Hasretim” (ECM) Dresdner Sinfoniker with guest musicians
2011 – “Duo” Rolf Zielke / Mustafa Boztüy
2009 – “Handel Jazz” feat. Stephan Abel (Roger Cicero) and Rhani Krija (Sting)
2004 – Rolf Zielke’s Hot Impressions feat. Charlie Mariano
2002 – “Exosphere” feat. Mike Stern
2001 – Rolf Zielke Trio feat. Mustafa Boztyy
1996 – “BLOW UP” feat. Ulita Knaus / Krzesimir Debski

Film and theatre compositions:
“Deszcz” (“Rain”, 1990) and “Slub Krawca” (“The Wedding of the Tailor”, 2000) in collaboration with the Polish cartoon artist Elzbieta Wasik and “Hexentanz und Teufelsschwanz” (2003): musical composition for the 100-year-old Anniversary of the “Bergtheater Thale” for orchestra, choir and ballet

www.rolfzielke.de

High resolution photos available here.

Saxophonist

Born in Córdoba 1964, winner of the WDR Jazz Award, Gabriel Pérez is an Argentinian musician rooted in Germany who combines the expressive power of jazz with traditional styles of his native land, thus creating a unique sound. His music career starts in the School of Music Alfredo L. Nihoul and continues in the Conservatory of Music Félix T. Garzón. Hereafter he enters the Banda Sinfónica of the theatre Libertador San Martín and in 1983, is cofounder of the professorship in the College of music education and investigation. Soon after, he moves to Europe, with the prospect of studying at the prestigious University of Music in Cologne, where he receives his diplomas of jazz saxophone and composition / arrangement with summa cum laude.

Extending the “Música Agentina” to “Música Argentina para Big Band”, he records the album “La Banda Grande” with the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra and the saxophone player David Liebman as well as the harmonica- player Matthias Broede and the argentinian bandoneon-player Carlos Nieto. For this CD, Gabriel also composes the piece “Achalay!”, a prose-collage of words in the two languages Spanish and Quechua, already foreshadowing the next major centre piece of his career. His projects and various cooperation take him to Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, the United Arabian Emirates, Kuwait, Mexico, Finland, Ireland, Senegal, Spain, France, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and Martinique. For the production with the WDR Big Band, besides bringing his own compositions, he arranges pieces of the Argentinian colleagues Marcio Doctor, Quique Sinesi, Ariel Ramírez, Astor Piazzolla and Sergio Aranda.

Guitarist

Presenting a combination of reckless abandon and structural thinking, Kalle Kalima (b. 1973) is one of the most fascinating Finnish musicians at the moment. The guitarist has managed to formulate a unique sound both as a musician and as a tunesmith. Currently residing in Berlin, Kalima plants the roots of his music deeply in the Nordic landscapes and the hectic urban life of the German capital.

2000-2016 have been busy years for Kalima, touring mostly in Europe but also in Africa, Asia and Americas. Kalima ́s Trio “Long Winding Road” with bass player Greg Cohen (Tom Waits, Ornette Coleman) and Max Andrzejewski has been touring in 2016 with the “High Noon” album (ACT). The group Klima Kalima with Oliver Steidle and Oliver Potratz won ”Neuer Deutscher Jazzpreis” in 2008 and has released four albums. The band Johnny La Marama (with Chris Dahlgren, bs, USA and Eric Schaefer, drs) is an exciting mix of rock and groove influences and free improvising. Kalima is also leading K-18, a Finnish group with quarter-tone accordion that won Jazz-Emma in Finland in 2013. In “Pentasonic” he plays guitar through electronics into 5 amps surrounding the audience. He is a member of the group “Kuu” with Christian Lillinger, Jelena Kuljic and Frank Möbus that released their first album in 2014. He has a trio “Tenors of Kalma” with Jimi Tenor, Finnish underground pop star. Their first album “Electric Willow” was released in early 2015 and brought Kalima “Echo –Jazz” Prize nomination in 2016.

Kalle Kalima has worked with trompeters Tomasz Stanko and Leo Wadada Smith, sax players Juhani Aaltonen, Anthony Braxton, bass players Greg Cohen and Sirone, guitarist Marc Ducret, composers Michael Wertmüller and Simon Stockhausen, pianist Jason Moran, drummers Jim Black and Tony Allen and singer Linda Sharrock as well as with Ensemble Resonanz and Jazzanova DJs. Kalima has composed music for NDR Big Band, Umo Big Band and Jousia Ensemble.

Percussionist

Harald Thiemann was born in Görlitz in 1966. He studied Classical Percussion at the “Musikhochschule Dresden”. He gained his first experience as a solo timpanist of the Dresden Philharmonic before turning to rock and jazz music, after an intensive stage of self-study with the drum kit. He subsequently played in many bands with a wide variety of repertoire: jazz, funk, Brazilian, Balkan music, as well as rock music, big band and modern music. He also composed stage music for several German theatres. In Berlin he works with his ensemble “Club Jazz Debakel”, which performs in the sphere of improvised Jazz-rock. Tours and guest performances have so far led him through Europe, North Africa, China & Central America. Harald Thiemann has been a member of the Dresdner Sinfoniker since 1999. Due to his cross-genre experience, he is involved in both the drumset and the orchestral percussion instruments.