Pianolab Festival 2010

Four sets of compositions and improvisations
WED 24 FEB 2010 20.30, BIMHUIS, AMSTERDAM (NL)

Misha Mengelberg · solo piano, Gunda Gottschalk · violin, Stevko Busch · piano, Cor Fuhler · electronics, Peter Jacquemyn · bass, Tatsuya Nakatani · percussion, Achim Kaufmann · piano, Frank Gratkowski · clarinet, Wilbert de Joode · bass

Dante Boon, Keiko Shichijo · work by Morton Feldman for one and two pianos

This concert at the BIMHUIS responds in one evening to various aspects that are covered throughout the series.
Misha Mengelberg as one of the founders of various movements in contemporary music and art (read: improvisation, Fluxus, Steim) shares the stage with the second and third generation of improvisers – in his ‘home venue’, as it were. It features established musicians and masters of international reputation, each representing a distinct cosmos within music.

Misha Mengelberg
Born on June 5, 1935 in Kiev, Misha has lived in the Netherlands since the age of 3.
He studied with Kees van Baaren at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and took his final exams in music theory in 1964.

From 1960 onwards he engaged in jazz and improvised music as a pianist/composer. In 1967 he is co-founder of the Instant Composers Pool (ICP) and in 1968 of the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM). In 1972, he becomes president of the Union of Improvising Musicians (BIM). With the ICP Orchestra, but also in duo with Han Bennink (percussion), he has built an international reputation.

Keiko Shichijo (piano) received her first piano lessons at the age of three. In 1996 she began her studies at the ‘Toko Gakuen University of Music in Tokyo’. From September 2002 Keiko studied fortepiano with Stanley Hoogland at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and received her Master title in 2008.
At the International Fortepiano Competition in Bruges 2004 Keiko received the highest distinction. Two years later, together with violinist Yukie Yamaguchi, she won first prize in the “Ensemble Mozart” category of the International Early Music Competition in Bruges. Furthermore, in 2009, together with her regular Trio ” Trio Otonoe ” (Yukie Yamaguchi – violin & Gideon den Herder – cello), she won the first prize at the “A Tré” chamber music competition in Trossingen.

Keiko has given concerts both as a fortepianist and as a pianist at many important music festivals in Europe, such as the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, and “Printemps des Arts” in France. She played a Mozart piano concerto with the Sweelinck Baroque Orchestra conducted by Jaap ter Linden and also a Mozart piano concerto with the French baroque orchestra ‘Stradivaria’. She was also invited as a soloist for La Folle Journée 2006 in Tokyo.

Dante Boon (piano) was admitted at the age of 13 to the preparatory course of the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam and studied piano there with Willem Brons until 1994. He also studied composition with Diderik Wagenaar at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague from 1993 to 1997.

As a pianist, he has premiered works by Tom Johnson, Clarence Barlow, Samuel Vriezen, Renske Vrolijk, Martijn Voorvelt and Anthony Fiumara, among others, and has made CD recordings of works by Rozalie Hirs (for Attacca), Philip Corner (for New World Records, with ensemble The Barton Workshop) and of Tom Johnson’s Symmetries (with Samuel Vriezen, for Karnatic Lab Records).
He has performed in Paris, Miami, Rome, Ghent, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Brussels, Vienna, and many other venues at home and abroad. He recently recorded a solo CD with works by Richard Ayres, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Jürg Frey, Tom Johnson and Samuel Vriezen.

His compositions have been performed by the Netherlands Vocal Laboratory, the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, pianist Marcel Worms, the Honor Prize, Moritz Eggert, ensemble The Barton Workshop, and various other musicians and ensembles
As a composer and pianist, he is closely involved with the international composer group Wandelweiser.

Gunda Gottschalk (1969 ) – violin / viola
Gunda Gottschalk from Wuppertal, after all the birthplace of German improvised music, is not only a virtuoso and internationally performing violinist, but also an organizer of concerts and artist residencies in the famous “Ort”, the former workplace of the late Peter Kowald, one of the founders of improvised music in the 60s and 70s. Peter Jacquemyn is a regular guest there – both as an artist and as a musician.

Previous encounters between Stevko Busch and Gunda Gottschalk were so fruitful that the plan to form a larger ensemble was quickly conceived. The visit of the Japanese/American percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani to Europe at this time of year finally makes it possible to present this special ensemble.

Gunda Gottschalk plays improvised and contemporary music and combines her musical work with other art forms such as dance, theater, film, composition, visual art and literature. In 1994/95 the violinist met the bassist Peter Kowald, who during this year carried out his project “365 Tage am ORT” (365 Days in Place) in Wuppertal. She performed in Peter Kowald’s Ort-Ensemble and with important international soloists for improvised music such as Joelle Leandre, Carlos Zingaro, Even Parker. 1995-2002 Together with Xu Feng Xia she made up the core trio of Peter Kowald’s ‘Global Village’ Ensemble, which brought together musicians from radically different cultural heritages. In ensembles ranging from trio to sextet, “Global Village” concertized in Europe and the USA.
Solo tours in 2002 and 2003 took the musician all over the USA. There she played with William Parker, Susie Ibarra, Assif Tsahar, Michael Zerang, Oliver Lake and Fred Frith among many others.

Gunda Gottschalk has been well represented on festivals of contemporary and improvised music all over Europe and is a regular guest at the avant-garde festival “visions” in New York.

Tatsuya Nakatani (percussion) is originally from Osaka, Japan.
In 2006 he performed in 80 cities in 7 countries and collaborated with 163 artists worldwide. In the past 10 years he has released nearly 50 recordings on CD.
He has created his own instrumentation, effectively inventing many instruments and extended techniques. He utilizes drumset, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects, bells, and various sticks and bows to create an intense, organic music that defies category or genre. His music is based in improvised/ experimental music, jazz, free jazz, rock, and noise, yet retains the sense of space and beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music.

Peter Jacquemyn (double bass), born in 1963 in Schaarbeek, lives and works in Brakel. He is a versatile artist, makes sculptures, sketches and drawings and is also very active musically. His concerts and performances are spectacular. With unbridled energy he wrestles with his double bass. A fight in which all means are permitted: Bows (1, 2 or 3), dented beverage cans, plastic bags, crumpled paper, mufflers, brass, re-tensioned strings, …
This places Peter among Belgium’s most interesting improvisation musicians with a justifiable international reputation. As an artist, he exhibits in Belgium and abroad.

Stevko Busch (piano) has played since 1996 in, among others, Willem van Manen’s Contraband, with ‘Tetzepi’ and ‘Borderhopping’ and in duo with Misha Mengelberg, Paul van Kemenade and Paul Hubweber. Busch has played in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and France. He has been heard with various ensembles by the VPRO, EBU, WDR and Deutschlandfunk. Between 1996 and 2001 he composed for KAIDA and ZAPP!, among others, and made space sound compositions, one of which could be heard during a TRYTONE festival at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

Since 2006 he has organized the concert series ‘Pianolab. Amsterdam’ at the Goethe-Institut in Amsterdam. In this series he realizes concerts in which the boundary between composed and improvised music is regularly crossed. In addition there are concerts with poets under the title WoordMuziek, recently the program “Gekromde ruimte” by poet and composer Rozalie Hirs.

Cor Fuhler (electronics)
Fuhler is particularly interested in expanding the possibilities in terms of sound of the piano. He collects and plays many electronic and acoustic keyboard instruments, sometimes self-made, such as the Keyolin (a combination of violin and keyboard). In 1995 he formed the trio Fuhler-Bennink-De Joode, which is based on the techniques of instant composing and instant arranging. Fuhler combines improvisation and composition in various musical settings, such as with his group Carduelis Carduelis (1990-1996). In 1999 he was commissioned by the Huis aan de Werf in Utrecht to develop a music theater production: ‘Olympicnic’. With this project, which is based on technological extremes, he combined electro-acoustic music with Super 8 film, shadow play and sports. In addition, he directs the extended Corkestra.
Fuhler is one of the initiators of Kraakgeluiden, a workshop annex concert stage for electronics and improvisation. In addition to work for his own bands, Fuhler has composed music for the likes of Maarten Altena Ensemble, ICP, Lokaal 01, Aardvark, Palinckx, Nove Cento and Big Band New Music. He has collaborated with such diverse artists as George Lewis, Roswell Rudd, Evan Parker, Jim O’Rourke, John Zorn, Ernst Reijseger, Tobias Delius, Mark Feldman and Herr Seele.

Achim Kaufmann (piano, composer, electronics) was born in Aachen (D), and has been living in Amsterdam since 1996.
The improvising trio of Achim Kaufmann, Frank Gratkowski and Wilbert de Joode has released three discs so far (on Konnex, nuscope, and Leo Records) of energetic, multi-layered improvised chamber music.
In 2007 and 2008, Achim has been working on repertoires for different piano trios: kyrill with Jim Black and the Icelandic bass player Valdi Kolli got released by Pirouet Records in the fall of 2008. A recording with Han Bennink and Wilbert de Joode is due for release in 2009. Starmelodics is a collaborative trio effort with Mark Dresser and Harris Eisenstadt, released on nuscope recordings in the fall of 2008.
In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious German SWR Jazz Award. As a pianist, Achim strives to combine polyphonic pianism with subtly prepared and manipulated strings and interiors. Very recently, he has also added amplification and electronic processing to his vocabulary.

Achim has toured in most European countries, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., and Eastern Africa.
He performed (often with his own projects or as co-leader) at most of the renowned festivals, He has worked and recorded for most of the German radio/TV stations, and toured for the Goethe Institute. Achim has also played and/or recorded with musicians from different backgrounds such as Han Bennink, George Lewis, Mark Helias, Tomász Stanko, Steve Swallow, Chris Speed, Jim Black, Paul Lovens, Wolter Wierbos, Tristan Honsinger, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser, Misha Mengelberg, Ab Baars, Tobias Delius, and many more.

Frank Gratkowski (1963) Alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, flute, composition
Started playing the saxophone at 16 and, following a period at the Hamburg Conservatory (Hamburger Musikhochschule), moved in 1985 to study at the Cologne Conservatory of Music with Heiner Wiberny, graduating in 1990. Further studies with Charlie Mariano, Sal Nistico and Steve Lacy.

Frank Gratkowski has been working as a soloist in various international formations (Grubenklang Orchester, Klaus Koenig Orchester, Musikfabrik NRW, Tony Oxley Celebration Orchestra, Bentje Braam, BikBentBraam, All Ears, Zeitkratzer, WDR Big band, etc.). With his first solo program, he was a 1991 prizewinner in the Musik Kreativ contest. Since 1992 he has been working in a duo with the pianist Georg Graewe (CD “VicissEtudes”). The duo is often extended through the participation of different additional musicians, such as drummer Paul Lovens (CD “Quicksand”) and bassist John Lindberg (CD “Arrears”).

Frank Gratkowski played on nearly every German and on numerous international Jazz Festivals . Furthermore he has performed with Robert Dick, Phil Wachsmann, Radu Malfatti, Herb Robertson, Marcio Mattos, Eugenio Colombo, Peter Kowald, Ray Anderson, Michael Moore, Ken Vandermark, Greg Osby, Kenny Wheeler, Louis Sclavis, John Betsch, Jane Ira Bloom, Connie and Hannes Bauer, Xu Fengxia, James Newton, Muhal Richard Abrams, John Lindberg, Michael Formaneck, Ernst Reijseger, Fred van Hove, Theo Jörgensmann, Phil Minton, Peter Brötzmann, Mark Dresser, Mark Feldman, Hamid Drake, Michiel Braam, Han Bennink, Mal Waldron, Misha Mengelberg a. m.o.

Wilbert de Joode (1955) – Double Bass – is a true researcher of bass pizzicato and string techniques. He has been playing double bass since 1982 and joined groups that improvised in a jazz setting. He developed into one of the most active bassists on the European improvised music circuit. His individual style and personal tone color – he plays on gut strings – are very recognizable. As a member of the dOeK foundation, he is closely involved in the current developments of Amsterdam and international improvised music.