Mazen Kerbaj, Trumpet olo
Lebanese trumpet player Mazen Kerbaj will bring his highly focused solo playing to the MUG. For the first time in seven years, the trumpet experimentalist, improvisor, organizer, graphic artist, author and politically engaged blogger will be our guest. In 2007, the Black Box witnessed the premiere of his trumpet trio with Franz Hautzinger and Axel Dörner.
BRT VRT ZRT KRT is the telling title of his trumpet suite, that presents the instrument as the source of countless unexpected sounds, ranging from a starting helicopter to softly rustling paper. No tricks, no electronics, no multi-tracking involved! Occasionally assisted by simple mechanical aids, everything comes about with an astoundingly precise technique.
Alongside his activity as improvising musician, Mazen is known both as a graphic artist and comic book author and as an organizer of concerts for jazz and experimental music in his home country, including the Irtal Festival in Beirut hosted since 2001.
Come and see Mazen Kerbaj in one of his rare visits to Europe!
Frédéric Blondy, prepared piano
Guylaine Cosseron, voice
Xavier Charles, clarinet
For more than a decade now, Guylaine Cosseron has been carving out a distinct and very personal profile for her voice. In this, she has neither opted for the Jazz of the Great American Songbook nor for the distant floating world of Nordic ambient singing. But she did not turn into a female incarnation of Phil Minton either, even though she admires his work.
Unerringly, she has followed her own vision, supported by well-established musical partners like Joëlle Léandre, Michel Doneda, Sophie Agnel, John Russell and Jean-Luc Guionnet.
Frédéric Blondy, a master of the prepared piano, having at his command a seemingly inexhaustible array of sounds, and Xavier Charles, whose clarinet has acted in a wide range of improvisational contexts, are her partners here. Both have appeared in Offene Ohren concerts before. The three players have completed a successful tour of Japan this summer.
The trio's music is mysterious, restrained and very intimate, but at times also exalted and outgoing. Tightly knit lines by voice, piano and clarinet are interrupted by harsh, percussive staccatos and raw soundscapes, only to return at a moment's notice to their gentle interplay with silence.
Joker Nies, custom-made electronics
Georg Wissel, prepared saxophones
Paul Lytton, custom-made percussion
2+2=3 combines Georg Wissel's longstanding duos with percussionist Paul Lytton and 'electrosapiens' Joker Nies in a new trio, which makes for a highly unorthodox mix not only as far as algebra is concerned but also in view of Lytton's well-assorted percussives, Nies' custom-made electronic sound devices and Wissel's (prepared) saxophones.
Based on their search for a new and personal sonic language, Georg Wissel and Paul Lytton have for many years examined possibilites to modify and adapt their instruments to changing artistic needs. Their acoustic workshop duo was founded in 2006.
A self-declared sculptor of compressed air, Georg Wissel uses extended saxophone techiques as well a broad array of utensils for preparing his instruments. Paul Lytton, on the other hand, plays his 'table', arranging and bringing to life a vast number of meticulously picked household and percussion items.
The trio is rounded out bei 'electrosapiens' Joker Nies who has been experimenting with all kinds of electronic and analogous devices for live improvisation and sound design since the early 80s. Aiming for unpredictable connections, Nies frequently interferes as a resistor and waveguide with the wiring of his open circuits, omnichords and mysterious sythesizers.
There are no hidden agreements or concepts, all cards are played openly. The listeners become equal witnesses in an associative artistic process resulting in a sophisticated blend marked by sheer delight in and a strong sensibility for all kinds of sound and noise.
Geoff Goodman, electric guitar, banjo, loop
Bill Elgart, drums
Sebi Tramontana, trombone
Ardhi Engl, self-built instruments, loop
For their appearance within the scope of the subsonicspace series organized by Offene Ohren, they are joined by Sebi Tramontana (Italy) and Bill Elgart (USA), two internationally renowned improvisers, who are just as much at home with experimental music as they are with composed music.
Broad as it is, the musical range of Metal, Wood and Wire gets an additional grounding in the Jazz tradition through Bill's creative and elegant percussion work, while Sebi will open the doors for unfettered flights of improvisational imagination.
The story of Metal, Wood and Wire Extended has yet to be told. On this Sunday night, we will be privileged and thrilled to experience its unfolding.
Katsura Yamauchi, saxophones
This evening will present the audience with a double event: Salmosax is the solo project of Japanese alto and soprano sax player Katsura Yamauchi, and Ho Fu Ne M is his experimental film work that evolved over a period of two years.
On both occasions, the audience will be taken on a virtual expedition combining past, present and future by physical memories, locations, sounds and elements - is it Zen?
In 2010 the t-u-b-e, now called the MUG, witnessed a truly extraordinary concert by this Japanese saxophonist who was then virtually unknown. Due to a musical approach that is both simple and singular, he occupies a special position even in his home country. Without being part of any movement or trend, he follows his own improvisational vision with remarkable rigor and consistency.
His project is called Salmosax and water is one of its key elements. Now he is back with new solo concepts and an experimental film that has been shown successfully at international festivals.
An exciting performance not to be missed!
-> live in concert: Butcher – de Joode – Blume (see below)
-> our anniversary 10 years Offene Ohren e.V.
-> being awarded with the prize Spielstättenprogrammpreis 2014
Für seine "kulturell herausragende Livemusik-Reihe 2013" wurde der Offene Ohren e.V. Mitte September von der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, Frau Prof. Monika Grütters, in Hamburg ausgezeichnet.
Wir sehen die Auszeichnung nicht nur als ein wichtiges Zeichen der Honorierung unserer ehrenamtlichen Arbeit für den Verein selbst, sondern auch als ein Signal für alle Künstler, die abseits des gängigen Mainstreams neue, frische und spannende Improvisationsmusik-Erlebnisse zusammen mit einem offenen und neugierigen Publikum entdecken und entwickeln wollen. Ein positives Argument zur Fortführung unserer Arbeit, das uns Rückenwind für zukünftige Aktivitäten gibt!
Ohne die Förderung und Unterstützung vor allem durch das Kulturreferat der LH München, aber auch die Unterstützung durch unsere Partner, Freunde und Vereinsmitglieder, wäre es all die Jahre nicht möglich gewesen unser ambitioniertes Programm so umzusetzen. Ein herzliches Dankeschön!
Einem unserer Partner, dem Jazzclub Unterfahrt möchten wir an dieser Stelle nochmal gratulieren, er ist Preisträger in der Kategorie I. So sind im EinsteinKultur gleich zwei prämierte Veranstalter aktiv :-)
There´s really a lot to celebrate ...
Enjoy - Open Ears!
Martin Blume, drums
Wilbert de Joode, bass
John Butcher, saxophones
Prologue, summer of 2004: Guitarist John Russell and saxophonist Tanja Feichtmayr are on tour and are spontaneously invited to do a private concert in Munich. The feedback is phantastic. Old discussions flare up: why do we have so little improvised music here? Why are there generally so few opportunities to perform for improvising musicians?
Following the success of this duo concert, some friends of improvised music sit together discussing the seemingly utopian idea to bring to Munich the music for which they often travelled hundreds of kilometers through Europe.
On the same evening, they decide on founding an association - true to the motto "you don't stand a chance, so take it."
Soon after, the first concert took place at the Phoenix Lounge near Harras in the south of Munich. Offene Ohren, All Ears - the association's fitting name - was also the watchword for the perfomance of British saxophone player John Butcher, Dutch bassist Wilbert de Joode and German percussionist Martin Blume.
Who'd have thought back then that Offene Ohren e.V. would still be going strong today and celebrate its anniversary ten years to the day after its first concert featuring exactly the same trio?
In the intervening years, these musicians have appeared in various groups at our concerts, and all three are thrilled by the prospect of congregating again for our tenth anniversary in Munich.
We invite you to celebrate with us, the Offene Ohren team, the reappearance of the group that marked the beginning of our concert series!
Here is what one listener had to say about the trio in 2004:
Between caress and cheek - fascinating Free Jazz with the trio of John Butcher, Wilbert de Joode and Martin Blume
What is the essence of a musical instrument? Has it got a soul? Its own life? What are the limits of tackling it without breaking it? How far, for instance, can the language of a saxophone be extended without dissolving its character? Is an ordinary drum set really to be treated like this, and where in the handling of the beautifully shaped double bass does the caress stop and the cheekiness begin?
All three musicians are active in diverse groups of the improv scene and are
much- in-demand representatives of this genre. At the beginning of their first joint gig they seemed like solitary planets, self-absorbed musicians focusing on their vision with closed eyes.
But before long, a forceful dialog evolved, giving rise to loudly voiced questions and answers. Soon, in their spontaneously emerging performance, they were approaching ecstasy, expressing a highly concentrated power, at once destructive and beautiful. At times, the musicians seemed to interact with their shadows cast by the stagelight to invest their playing with an even greater sense of urgency. It was, as if Blume, de Joode and Butcher had known each other for ages.
- Ulrich Rüdenauer
Pat Thomas (piano and electronics)
Alexander Frangenheim (bass)
Roger Turner (percussion)
Phillipp Wachsmann (violin and electronics)
WTTF - no, not "welcome to the future." Nor is this short for "want to trade for." No - this acronym built of the initial letters of surnames simply announces four first-rate improvisors.
Phil Wachsmann (violin and electronics), Pat Thomas (piano and electronics), Roger Turner (percussion) and Alexander Frangenheim (bass) have recorded together once in 1997 for a session at London's Gateway Studios.
Power, concentration, mutual respect as well as humor are the hallmarks of the resulting sound document, released only fifteen years later and the reason for a reunion of this by now historical quartet for an Offene Ohren concert at MUG.
Three of these four protagonists played at some of our earlier concerts, then still hosted at different venues: Roger Turner together with Konk Pack at the Phoenix Lounge, Alexander Frangenheim as part of Chris Burn's trio together with Axel Dörner at the Black Box, and Phillipp Wachsmann as part of the Lines Quartet at Seidlvilla.
These legendary performances evoke a kaleidoscope of remembrances which really make us curious about the musical event to be expected with the added presence of MUG novice Pat Thomas.
Kim Myhr - guitar
Ingar Zach - percussion
Kim Myhr ist in der kreativen Musikszene Norwegens gleichermaßen als Komponist wie Gitarrist präsent und hat einen prall gefüllten Tourkalender, der ihn bereits durch ganz Europa, Australien, Asien und auch Nord- und Südamerika geführt hat. Anfang Februar 2014 erschien seine erste Solo-CD All your limbs singing. Anlass genug ihn ins MUG einzuladen.
Solistisch erforscht er hier das Klangpotential seiner 12-saitigen Gitarre und ruft dem Zuhörer die frühe Musik Ligetis und Morton Feldmans in Erinnerung, macht aber auch Ausflüge in die amerikanische Folk Musik.
Kim Myhr ist ein Drittel des experimentellen Trios MURAL, zusammen mit dem australischen Flötisten und Saxofonisten Jim Denley und dem Perkussionisten Ingar Zach. Brachte er 2009 Jim Denley als Duopartner zum Offene Ohren Konzert (siehe Offene Ohren Konzerte auf CD) nach München mit, ist also jetzt sein Landsmann Ingar Zach an der Reihe.
Auch Ingar Zach hat 2013 intensiv an einem neuen Soloprogramm gefeilt, und so haben unsere Konzertbesucher die Chance, schon vor der für den Herbst geplanten CD Veröffentlichung die Ergebnisse anzuhören. Auf seiner Internetsite können sie einen Radiobeitrag bei l’improviste vom November 2013 nachhören und einen Eindruck seines mal filigranen mal kraftvollen Perkussionspiels auf seinem reichhaltigen Arsenal von Klangerzeugern bekommen.
Shuichi Chino - piano
Tristan Honsinger - cello, performance
Die Freunde der improvisierten Musik präsentieren ein rares Duo zwischen dem irrlichternden Cello-Performer Tristan Honsinger und dem scheinbar schwerelos auf den Tasten tanzenden Pianisten Shuichi Chino.
Die beiden waren die begeistert gefeierte Entdeckung des letztjährigen Festivals Konfrontationen im österreichischen Nickelsdorf, seit Jahrzehnten ein Mekka der Improvisationsmusik. „Selten klang Improvisation so melodisch“ schwärmte Peter Bruyn im britischen Musikmagazin The wire über diesen Auftritt.
Geboren in Tokio ist Chino seit den 70er Jahren als Produzent, Komponist und Musiker genauso im Jazz und Rock wie in Theater, Tanz und Film aktiv und organisiert Improvisationsfestivals in Japan und weltweit. Im Grenzbereich zur bildenden Kunst hat er auch Sound-Installationen geschaffen.
Der Amerikaner Tristan Honsinger lebte in Montreal, Amsterdam, Paris, Florenz und Berlin und ist jenseits seiner klassischen Cello-Ausbildung auch ein Meister der surrealen Wortperformance. Seine letzte CD-Veröffentlichung "Baboon" entstand Anfang 2012 bei seinem Triokonzert mit Enrico Sartori und Tobias Delius im Münchner MUG - organisiert vom Offene Ohren e.V., der sich freut, ihn dieses Jahr wieder als Gast begrüßen zu dürfen.
Rodrigo Pinheiro - piano
Hernani Faustino - bass
Gabriel Ferrandini - drums
The RED Trio ist eine Ausnahmeerscheinung der portugiesischen Jazz- und Impro-Szene.
Seine Musik hat keine direkte Verbindung zu allem was ansonsten in diesem kleinen Land am Rand Europas musikalisch geschieht – obwohl es bekannt ist für seine außergewöhnlich lebhafte Szene zwischen Jazz und experimenteller Musik.
Ja, sogar weltweit gibt es kaum ein Piano Trio mit vergleichbaren Ansätzen. Vor allem deswegen, weil es nicht wirklich ein Piano Trio im herkömmlichen Sinn ist. Das Klavier ist nicht im Zentrum, obwohl Pinheiros Virtuosität und Ideenreichtum außer Frage steht. Genauso wenig bilden Bass und Schlagzeug die althergebrachte Rhythmusgruppe. Vielmehr agieren alle gleichberechtigt.
Das Ergebnis ist eine kollektive, hierarchiefreie Musik. Konventionen wie Melodie und Rhythmus werden durch spontane texturelle Strukturen ersetzt.
Inmitten all der Abstraktionen geht indes der Jazz nicht verloren – immer mal wieder blitzen Reminiszenzen auf und lassen Anklänge etwa an Thelonious Monk oder Cecil Taylor erkennen. Aber auch zeitgenössische Klassik wie Messiaen oder Ligeti werden gestreift.
Insgesamt reichhaltige, manchmal fast brutale Musik, aber mit Raum für feine Details. Wirklich eine willkommene Überraschung!
Raymond Strid - drums
Henrik Nørstebø - trombone
Nina de Heney - bass
Raymond Strid (Gush, Fire! orchestra, The electrics, etc.), Nina de Heney (Solo, Ullén/de Heney, Acoustic electronics) und Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø (As deafness increases, Skadedyr, Lana trio) fanden im Jahr 2011 zusammen und haben seitdem Konzerte in den bekanntesten Szene-Clubs Skandinaviens, wie Avgarde oder Blow out, renommierten Festivals wie dem Kongsberg Jazzfestival oder dem Festival InToDownTo gespielt.
Das Trio begeistert mit Improvisationsmusik von extensiver Dynamik, wobei variable pulsierende Klangwolken sich ablösen mit laserscharf herausgefrästen Rhythmusstrukturen, und der Individualismus der Musikerpersönlichkeiten in keiner Weise einem organischen gemeinschaftlichen Erschaffen von Sounds im Wege steht.
„Die Musik verrennt sich nie in vorhersehbare Loops, Wiederholungen oder bequeme Sequenzen oder Muster. Daher bleibt alles in steter Balance und Spannung, die sich kontinuierlich wandelt. Abgesehen vom Terminus „Improvisation“ kann dieses Trio in keine stilistische Schublade gesteckt werden, sie spielen schlicht und ergreifend großartige Musik!“ [Luigi Bozzolan, About jazz, Italien]
Agustí Fernández - piano
Mats Gustafsson - saxophone
Agustí Fernández ist zurück in München!
Nur knapp 10 Monate nach seinem spektakulären Solokonzert anlässlich des Jubiläumskonzertes Nr. 100 des Offene Ohren e.V. kommt er wieder in den MUG. Mit im Gepäck: die offizielle Aufnahme dieses Konzertes: "A trace of light".
Diesmal bringt er einen langjährigen Duopartner mit, Mats Gustafsson. 2004 bereits entstand der gemeinsame Tonträger Critical Mass. Der Schwede Mats Gustafsson stand schon ebenso lange auf der Wunschliste des Vereins.
Raue, ungezügelte Expressivität an Tenor- und Baritonsaxophon trifft auf aristokratische Meisterschaft am, um und im Konzertflügel. Filigrane Lyrik und mikrotonale Sounds an der Hörschwelle sind genauso im Repertoire dieser Vollblutmusiker zu finden. Aber auch wer sich an den Trioauftritt (damals mit dem Trompeter Peter Evans) 2012 beim ad hoc music Konzert in der Unterfahrt erinnert, wird überrascht werden.
Nicht weniger als ein spanisch-schwedisches improvisatorisches Spitzentreffen erwartet Sie im Munich Underground at Einstein.
Matthias Müller - trombone
Mark Sanders - drums
John Edwards - bass
Frank Paul Schubert - soprano saxophone
Complex, subtle interplay, occasionally interspiced with ferocious eruptions, will conclude the Offen Ohren concerts at MUG for this year.
Berlin musicians Frank Paul Schubert and Matthias Müller have been working as a duo since 2008, after having met in diverse constellations of the Berlin scene.
With Foils, they restrict themselves to the unusual lineup of soprano saxophone and trombone. Avoiding superficial contrasts as suggested by the instruments, they rely on a blending of sounds instead. Despite their agility and turbulence both voices manage to achieve a homogenous sonic flow with more of a textural than a narrative character.
An at least as unconventional lineup is the duo of drummer Mark Sanders and bassist John Edwards. Since the nineties both are ranked among the most creative and prominent protagonists of the British improv scene. Their brilliant teamwork can be heard in trios as well, for instance with Evan Parker and Veryan Weston.
In 2011 the idea emerged to bring the two duos together to form the Foils Quartet, resulting in a highly original example of the contemporary art of improvisation.
Taku Mizuta Lippit - Turntable
Niklas Wandt - drums
Embracing an exchange of cultures (West vs. East), musical coneptions (analog instrument vs. sampling/reconstruction), sound sources (acoustic vs. electric), Niklas and Taku promise to bring us a thrilling dialogue full of variety. Niklas Wandt was recommended to us by Paul Hubweber, himself a duo partner of Taku as well as Niklas. This fresh young drummer from Cologne jumped into Free Jazz head over heels as a fourteen-year-old via Albert Ayler and Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun.
An ideal counterpart, then, for Takuro Mizuta aka DJ Sniff. Born in California, raised in Tokyo, having worked at the STEIM in Amsterdam, and currently living in Hong Kong, Taku is a true cosmopolitan and musical free spirit transcending all categories. Taku's most successful projects include performances with percussionists, among others with Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and Mark Sanders.
Günter Baby Sommer - drums
Gunda Gottschalk - violin
Xu Fengxia, guzheng, sanxiang, voice
Two thirds of this trio appeared at the opening concert of the first ad hoc music festival in 2005. Then still at the Seidlvilla in Schwabing, the duo You Lan showcased an encounter of the Chinese gusheng and the European violin full of improvisation, emotion and raw intensity.
This time around the two power women have joined forces with a drummer who can arguably be described as the most representative figure of all-German "jatz". Technical mastership, humor, exuberant inventiveness, instrumental diversity, empathy for all kinds of musical partnerships - all these are Baby Sommer's trademarks.
These three strong personalities are a sure bet for a memorable concert highlight!
Carl Ludwig Hübsch - tuba
Christian Weber - bass
Ninh Lê Quan - bass drum, percussion
A brandnew trio opens the "Exchange" season of ad hoc music in 2013. Accordingly, communication and exchange are the key concepts for the interaction of these improvisers, who can draw on personal friendship and a technical mastership acquired through years of experience to engage in a joyful dialogue.
Tuba, bass and big drum - so many deep sounds sound like deep thinking. As a matter of fact, German Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Swiss Christian Weber and Frenchman Ninh Le Quan are able to produce a dense web of communication with their low-range equipment.
Through the use of self-developed playing techniques never heard before, the instrumensts reach unexpected pitches. But even working in the traditional sound spectrum, the three improvisers play a dynamic music, at once harmonious and distinctive, fascinating and full of surprising turns.
Förderverein Jazz und Malerei e.V. 10 Euro
Masaki Iwana - Butoh dance
Matthias Muche - trombone
Sven Hahne - visuals, electronics
Michel Doneda - soprano saxophone
Matthias Muche, trombone, and Sven Hahne, video plus sound electronics, appear as a duo named Timeart. For their visit to MUG they bring along two special guests: the exceptional French improviser Michel Doneda with his soprano saxophone, and Japanese dancer Masaki Iwana, a former student of the founder of traditional Butoh dancing.
The new project goes by the name of Four Winds.
Concert goers can expect a fireworks display of visual and sonic impressions, at best comparable to the memorable light and sound transformations realized by the ensemble Cri du Coeur at MUG late in 2011.
The stage area turns into a self-contained, highly sensitive system with the dancer acting as a living sculpture and every impulse traversing the "materialities" of body, electricity, air and light - a confrontation between archaic human expression and the abstract world of digital computing. The necessary software is developed by the ensemble's programmer.
Hans Nyman - guitar
Johannes Ahlberg - laptop
Sol Andersen - laptop
Hampus Norén - laptop
Johannes Nästesjö - bass
Even for Offene Ohren there are always new and unknown sounds to be discovered: Swedish bassist Johannes Nästesjö called our attention to the laptop/guitar quartet MemoCassette.
Grounded in jazz by a double bass, a guitarist and three laptop artists from Sweden rely on samples and spirited sounds full of humor to take us on a rollercoaster ride through avant-garde, ethno-music and noise.
Johannes Nästesjö and MemoCassette will turn your listening habits upside down and revel in putting them through the grinder of their digital soundprocessing machinery.
The musicians are kindly supported by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee Schweden 
.
Thomas Borgmann - saxophone
Willi Kellers - drums
Akira Ando - bass
Willi Kellers seems to share a love for special dates with us:
Having officially inaugurated MUG at Einstein on 11-2-2011 together with Alan Tomlinson and Chrisoph Winkel, on 13-9-2013 he will bring along the Japanese bassist Akira Ando and saxophone heavyweight Thomas Borgmann, who more than once stood his ground against Peter Brötzmann.
What Boom Box presents is anything but dull retro free jazz. The pioneers of past jazz generations (Albert Ayler and Frank Wright, to name only two of them) are rediscovered in new light, and we are surprised to find that free imrpovisation, melodies and harmonies go together extraordinarily well.
"Boom Box know how to reconcile avant-garde and tradition. The sounds created by the band are delicate, animating, resilient and recognizable, deliberately freeing their "jazz" of any artificiality." [Klaus Hübner at Westzeit]
Tetsu Saitoh (Japan)
Barre Phillips (US)
Sebastian Gramss (Germany)
That's what you call luck! After securing a final gig for the tour "Double the Bass" undertaken by the bassists Sebastian Gramss and Barre Phillips, both of whom already appeared at Offene Ohren concerts, we can now announce a unique encounter of these two with yet another bassist - Tetsu Saitoh. A wonderful transcontinental summit of three masters from USA, Germany and Japan.
Tetsu and Barre have known each other for years, and there is even a CD with the same lineup (Nobuyoshi Ino playing the third bass). Tetsu recorded other CDs with Barre as well as with more performers at earlier Offene Ohren concerts, such as Michel Doneda, Joelle Léandre, Urs Leimgruber, Lê Quan Ninh.
Sebastian Gramss has Japanese ties as well: Frank Gratkowski's OirTrio features him as its second and percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani as its third member.
A most unusual meeting of three worldclass bass improvisors!
Katharina Klement - piano
Elisabeth Harnik - piano
There still is no common recording of the two Austrian pianists, even though their paths frequently crossed in the past. In 2006, for instance, they appeared together at the piano festival - then the contribution of Offene Ohren to ad hoc music - as part of the Austrian ensemble Soundog. At that time, alongside one piano only a clavichord was available, this time we will have two partly prepared grand pianos.
After her classical piano training, Elisabeth Harnik studied composition with Beat Furrer. Appearances as improvisor and performer of new compositions, particularly her own works, since 2000. She received many awards and grants; in 2010 she was artist in residence at OMI International Arts Center in New York. Additionally, she is involved in music education and has realized several interdisciplinary school projects.
Katharina Klement is active as composer-performer in the field of notated and improvised, electronic and instrumental music.
Instrumental and electronic compositions, emphasis on spatial conceptions, crossover projects involving music, text, video, performance. Numerous multi-channel compositions in combination with instrument(s) and /or vocals show the range of her approach. Her particular interest lies on the piano and its extended playing techniques and on sound installations.
Agustí Fernández - piano
Agustí Fernández is no longer an unknown for Munich's Jazz and avant-garde audience. Most recently, he appeared twice at the BMW Jazz Award 2012, with his compatriot Ramón López on drums and bass allrounder Barry Guy, in the trio Aurora showing his lyrical and theme-oriented side.
But percussive sounds and noise are also part of his repertoire, as he strikingly demonstrated in last year's ad hoc music concert with Mats Gustafsson and Peter Evans at the Unterfahrt.
Still another facet of his playing, the cooperation with electronics and computer performers like Manuel Berenguer, could be witnessed during ad hoc music's second edition in 2006, then still at Klanggalerie t–u–b–e.
Now we will see Agustí Fernández at the same venue (under its new name MUG - Munich Underground), with new concepts and ideas: virtually no preparation of the piano interior that were a defining element of his earlier approach, instead a highly proficient pianist's searching examination of his instrument, of the place's acoustics and history and of his personal involvement.
This concert was at the same time our 100th concert! Many friends of improvised music celebrated this special event with us. We were very glad that we could even welcome Dr. Hans Georg Küppers, Director of Munich´s Municipal Department of Arts and Culture.
Christine Wodrascka - piano
Sophie Agnel - piano
Christine Wodrascka delighted her audience already in March 2011, when she gave a four-handed piano performance together with Geneviève Foccroulle. This project - called 4M - was presented by Offene Ohren at the Black Box.
Now we have another piano duo, this time on two instruments, and again a francophone meeting. Her musical partner is Sophie Agnel, a classically educated pianist, who nonetheless is willing to tackle her instrument from every conceivable angle.
This goes for Agnel's solo playing that explores keys, wood, interior and strings in equal measure - but no less for her duo approach with associates demonstrating her musical world: vocalists Phil Minton and Catherine Jauniaux, guitarist Olivier Benoit or Christine Wodrascka.
Christine Wodrascka says about her musical background that she is a child of Free Jazz. Alongside her solo work, trios have a special significance for her music. The varying lineups tell us much about the pianist's enormous stylistic range: from reduced fragility with Didier Lasserre and Benjamin Duboc to dynamic expressivity with Gerry Hemingway and Jean-Luc Cappozzo. Last not least, spontaneous meetings like the trio with Mark Sanders and Evan Parker.
Her musical attitude is best described by the word effervescence - an exuberant temperament informing her artistic activities.
Paul Lovens – percussion
Stefan Keune – saxophone
Back to the roots, you could say. As early as 1994, Stefan Keune played at the Ruhr Jazz Festival in a quartet with John Russell on guitar, Hans Schneider on bass and, yes, Paul Lovens on drums. 19 years later, Paul and Stefan get together again.
Stefan Keune already performed twice in concerts for Offene Ohren: in 2005 as John Russell's ideal partner for the last OO concert at the Phoenix Lounge, and in 2007 at Gasteig's Black Box together with Hans Schneider and percussionist Achim Krämer. Stefan, who back then concentrated on the alto and sopranino sax, will also bring his baritone sax this time.
Paul Lovens no longer needs an introduction in Munich since he is well-known here from his many concerts with with Sebi Tramontana, the trio PaPaJo and particularly the legendary Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio.
Schweizer Holz Trio
Hans Koch – bass clarinet / sopranino saxophone
Omri Ziegele – alto saxophone / voice
Urs Leimgruber – tenor sax, sopranino saxophone
TiefTonTrio
Philipp Kolb – tuba
Udo Schindler – bass clarinet
Markus Heinze – baritone saxophone
We are very anxious to see how the two opposing trio concepts and the six individualists involved will jell into a whole mastering the balancing act between archaic expressionism and finely structured sonic layering.
Schweizer Holz Trio
Three reed players, three contemporary voices that could not be more diverse. Common to all of them is the probing of their respective instruments up to the furthest limits and the absolute will for unconcealed, unvarnished expression.
Their improvisations are collective explorations into the realm of primal human sounds. Whether precipitously eruptive, noisily silent or cheerfully narrative - nothings remains unheard-of.
TiefTonTrio
Mature, professional interplay of New Music and Jazz within a subversive cloak of improvisation, full of sonic adventures and instrumental virtuosity, presented by three internationally active protagonists.
The three ensemble members share a keen curiosity for everything that is experimental, spaced-out, close to the edge, transcending genres and rules. Instant composing is the guiding principle for investigating the sonic capacities of the instruments and employing them in a way that benefits the group context.
The tour of the Schweizer Holz Trio is kindly supported by the Swiss Arts Council prohelvetia 
Adrian Myhr – double bass
Joris Rühl – clarinet
Maciej Sledziecki – guitar
The music of Facet is based on improvisational strategies influenced by electronic sound collages, northern minimalism and NoWave.
"Facet's trio music is dense, compact and - despite the lineup's chamber music look - highly concentrated, even entrancing. To the point where clarinet and double bass are employed percussively to produce a rattling reminiscent of the proverbial trembling of aspen leaves.
All in all, very sophisticated and, yes, tender music. After the first piece is over you might still wait for the eruption. It's a good thing that it never comes." Quoted from Felix Klopotek in Stadtrevue Köln. Naturally, Offene Ohren were curious about the music so luminously described and are proud to be able to present this trio at MUG.
Burkhard Schlothauer – violin
Eiko Yamada – recorder
Nicolas Desmarchelier – guitar
Xavier Charles – clarinet
Ulrich Phillipp – double bass
Chamber music? New experimental music? Improvised music?
LIMARO is a quintet that eludes easy pigeonholing. The lineup is special – not the instruments as such, but their combination.
The music is surprising: subtly balanced textures, at once broken up and structured by precise and sometimes harsh interjections. Delicately flowing, atmospheric soundscapes manage to run on organically without having to draw on harmonic interaction.
From out of the polyphonous, polyrhythmic fabric of sensitively contrasting structures, strings and reeds will converge time and again - individually or in groups - into parallels.
The concerts 2013 are organised by Offene Ohren e.V. (main organiser) and City of Munich, Department of Arts and Culture (co-organiser).
Martin Blume (D) - drums
Luc Houtkamp (NL) - saxophone
John Russell (GB) - guitar
Three old friends from the very beginning of Offene Ohren (2005) come together for the first time. While John Russell has been active at the MUG already - his workshop in 2009 is fondly remembered by all involved - it is high time, we think, for Martin and Luc to reappear here in Munich.
Drawing on experiences with computer music, electronics and genre-transcending ensemble projects, Luc Houtkamp will nonetheless bring to the fore the "analog" aspect of his saxophone playing here.
His equal partners in crime are Martin Blume and John Russell whose music vocabulary, technical authority and intellectual brilliance are bound to translate into a scintillating performance.
A superb ending for the eighth edition of ad hoc music and likewise for the Offene Ohren concert season of 2012.
Pascal Battus (F) - pick ups
Olivier Toulemonde (F) - objects
Pick up objects is a project specifically developed for ad hoc music by French sound researchers Pascal Battus and Olivier Toulemonde. After an introduction to their respective acoustic worlds, they will explore common ground, accentuate differences and dovetail their arsenal of tools to realize a dialog of bizarre sonic worlds.
Pascal Battus already performed at Offene Ohren in another duet with the saxophone player Christine Sehnaoui-Abdelnour. This time though, the rotating sound generators he then used are replaced by pick-up microphones, bringing to life normally inaudible sounds and granting access to a fascinating, but normally unheeded everyday world.
Olivier Toulemonde, who currently lives in Berlin, is interested in the relationship of sound and space. In 1993 he was cofounder of the 20-piece ensemble Collectif Ishtar including experimental musicians and dancers alike. The influence of these two factors - dance and experiment - is reflected in his current work. The specifics of a given performance space and the use of outlandish sound generators will give rise to visually surprising results as well.
These two experimental individualists only rarely appear together. All the more reason to look forward anxiously to this encounter at the MUG!
Joshua Zubot (CDN) - violine
Isaiah Ceccarelli (CDN)- drums
Bernard Falaise (CDN) - guitar
Subtle Lip Can came about on a cold Tuesday night during "Mardi Spaghetti", an improvised music series by Montreal's music stage Le Cagibi.
The resulting sound was so natural, new and fresh, that the participating musicans decided on the spot to continue as a permanent trio. Bernard Falaise, Joshua Zubot and Isaiah Ceccarelli called their group Subtle Lip Can.
All three hail from the vibrant improv scene of Montreal. Together they developed a distinctive vocabulary of sounds that are bent, squeezed, crumpled, toasted and flash-frozen, making for a wholly new listening experience. The structures they create are unique and involve large dynamics ranging from contemplative soundscapes to frenetic eruptions.
With one live CD already to their credit, these promising newcomers have set out for their first European tour. This tour is kindly supported financially by "Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec".
Hannes Lingens - drums & objects
Pierre Borel - alto saxophone
Derek Shirley - double bass / bass synth
Obliq is a sonic mass in constant movement. Observing the characteristics of sound in every detail it moves in an abstract organic way, formed by three musicians on acoustic instruments in free improvisation.
Solistic passages are restrained in favour of a complex interlocking group structure. Working with a tendency towards rather quiet material opens a dynamic spectrum with a large potential for differentiation.
Coming from the Berlin scene of experimental music, the trio has toured various European countries and collaborated with artists like Christof Kurzmann (LP live at umlaut festival 2010), Ignaz Schick and Miya Masaoka.
Achim Kaufmann (D) - piano
Andreas Willers (D) – guitar
Axel Dörner (D) – trombone
Triple A plus - the highest ranking at the stock exchange - what has that got to do with an Offene Ohren concert? Quite a lot, since we are concerned with the .A.A.A. Trio from Berlin that not only will give one of its all too rare performances but will also throw in, as a "plus", one solo each!
The idea for this concert came about while listening intensively to quite a few recordings of the three participants, and so we are looking forward to Achim Kaufmann's lyrical to expressively explosive piano playing, to Andreas Willers' strangely unguitar-like, bubbling and swirling sounds as well as to Axel Dörner's aeroacoustical explorations.
In the trio, this huge stylistical background becomes the foundation for the love of experimentation and the courage to take musical risks. The various areas of improvised music a rarely covered in goose step, however, but rather fathomed for subtle nuances. What is presented onstage are the results of years of individual and collective musical experiences. Triple A plus!
Didier Lasserre (F) - drums
Benjamin Duboc (F) - bass
Wood, skin, hair, metal - the instruments of this duo do not need any other archaic materials. The two Frenchmen prefer to let their music speak instead of claiming the spotlight themselves. And a creatively approached cymbal or drum is indeed enough to enchant the audience. Didier Lasserre has no wish to impress, his music is never loud or superficial, what matters is a complex fabric of overtones, subtle vibrations and resonances - colors for the ears.
Benjamin Duboc might be remembered from highspeed power groups like The Fish but he too has evolved into a dedicated explorer of the microtonal sounds produced by his instrument - together with likeminded improvisers or as a soloist.
Having reduced its sonic explorations to their essence, this duo nonetheless has to offer a universe of astonishing abundance that uncovers the unexpected complexity of simplicity. Welcome to a virtual journey into the center of forgotten sounds.
Isabelle Duthoit (F)- voice, clarinet
Franz Hautzinger (A) - trumpet
Duthoit and Hautzinger - quiet, complex concentration and soft shades should be expected from this duo.
With compliments from Gomberg but also from Isabelle Duthoit's classical clarinet education and her predilection for music works of the 20th and 21st centuries. At the same time, both are not averse, occasionally, to a more vigorous and even violent approach, as shown by some incarnations of the Regenorchester and by Isabelle's excursions into rock music.
Improvising and exploring the cosmos of their instruments are core concerns for both musicians. This becomes especially clear from Hautzinger's biography, whose unique style and meticulous disassembling of the quarter-tone trumpet would not be imaginable without his physical stamina.
While Franz already performed for Offene Ohren - in 2007 he took part in the world premiere of a trumpet trio consisting of him, Axel Dörner and Mazen Kerbaj - Isabelle will be here for the first time; during the visit of SIX in 2008 she had to be replaced at the last minute by Anne Gillot.
Limpe Fuchs (D)- percussion, performance
Jacques Foschia (B) - clarinet, performance
"A journey through the universe of expressionistic improvisation - the sound of music versus the music of sound" - this was how the Duo Fuchs & Foschia was announced in Brussels for their first joint performance ever in 2011.
Offene Ohren is pleased to bring these two musical individualists together for their first joint concert in Munich. Allround sound artist Limpe Fuchs and Belgian clarinet player and shortwave radio artist Jacques Foschia can be counted on for an evening of truly unusual music. An evening drawing its fascination from the contrasting characters of the musicians as well as from a plethora of sounds charmed out of the excentric array of instruments.
Dirk Marwedel (Wiesbaden, D) – extended saxophone
Jaap Blonk (Arnhem, NL) - voice
Michael Vorfeld (Berlin, D) – light bulbs
A pioneer of the Offene Ohren concerts is opening our fall season of 2012. Similar to our third concert for the year 2004, Dutch voice acrobat Jaap Blonk will be part of a very unusual lineup. This time around we will hear and see Dirk Marwedel's extended saxophone and Michael Vorfeld's lightbulb sets.
Extend your concert experience into other dimensions. The readily apparent visual component of Vorfeld's light installations will be joined by Jaap Blonk's mathematical-scientific studies and Dirk Marwedel's astounding saxophone playing (informed by his work as a stone sculptor).
Sam Pluta [electronics]
Evan Parker [saxophone]
Peter Evans [trumpet]
“Little Rocket Science“ might be an apt motto for the coming concert of this trio. Be that as it may, under the very same name – minus the little, but with the addition of the pianist Craig Taborn – they will fire off their first performances this May in London, Amsterdam and at the jazz festival of Moers.
Other than Craig Taborn, who is returning to USA immediately after the tour, the three rocket scientists are going to concentrate their efforts on the electronically amalgamated interactions of the brass and woodwind players at the MUG research laboratory.
Regular guests of Offene Ohren e.V. know and esteem both Peter Evans and Evan Parker as guarantors of high energetics and filigree precision. Sam Pluta’s computer will provide their basis, fusion and transformation into unprecedented sound galaxies. You can look forward to a great moment in rocket science!
John Butcher [saxophone]
John Edwards [bass]
Gino Robair [drums]
The April concert within our subsonic space series will bring back „good old friends“ to us. However, don’t be misled – things have changed.
John Butcher and John Edwards, who were our guests in the Einstein-Kulturzentrum in 2009, have done more than “just“ look for an addition. Gino Robair (he was also one of the guests of Offene Ohren in 2009) does not only complement the duo, together with him the group has become a trio with even more and totally new dimensions.
Thanks to a small gap in their appointment book, these exceptional musicians can make a stopover in Munich – which offers us a unique chance to be captivated by their virtuoso mastery of their instruments and their imaginative interplay.
Jacques Demierre [piano]
Okkyung Lee [cello]
This concert offers us a chance to see and hear Jacques Demierre again. He was our guest in 2006, when he played in a trio with Barre Phillips and Urs Leimgruber.
We also have fond memories of cellist Okkyung Lee, who gave a performance together with the trumpeter Peter Evans in the autumn of 2010.
Even though their instruments might be deemed conventional, these musicians are anything but that. They enjoy trying out new things which they play highly emotionally. It goes without saying that they are both virtuosos.
Frank Gratkowski [8-channel saxophone & clarinets]
This concert was planned already in 2010. Frank Grtakowski designed his Surround-Sound-Solo-Project specially for the Eight-Channel-Soundsystem and the astounding acoustics of the MUG.
Clarinets and saxophones, electronics and the characteristic MUG-sound are the elements Frank Gratkowski uses for his unique multi-solo-event. Don´t miss this!
Lisa Ullén [piano]
David Linnros [saxophone]
According to Thomas Millroth „perhaps the crème de la crème of Scandinavia’s present improvised music scene“.
Since her training at the Royal Academy of Music at Stockholm and the University of North Carolina Lisa Ullén has cooperated with a wide range of improvisers – most recently with Christine Sehnaoui and Gino Robair, who have both been guests of Offene Ohren as well.
The saxophonist David Linnros is particularly interested in the “physical side“ of music. In addition to a variety of musical partnerships he runs his own quartet together with Dror Feiler.
Virgina Genta [saxophone]
Hartmut Geerken [percussion & more]
David Vanzan [percussion]
Exactly 4 weeks after the premiere of “subsonicspace“, we will have the next meeting of local and international musicians.
Well, Hartmut Geerken, the well-travelled literary-musical artist, qualifies for both: he has played together with innumerable musicians with African or Asian roots, among them members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Furthermore, he has often given concerts with the Italian Jooklo-Duo. And now he will perform at the MUG for the first time.
What a blessing that the venue is under ground: otherwise Virginia Genta‘s tenor sax and David Vanzana’s drums together with Geerkens’s arsenal of percussion and wind instruments might blow the roof away.
Christoph Schiller [piano, spinet]
Nina Polaschegg [bass]
Christoph Schiller bridges the gap between the baroque spinet and the modern grand piano. His use of the inside technique when playing the grand piano has enabled him to develop a very unique style.
Apart from being a PhD in musicology and a music journalist Nina Polaschegg is also an enthusiastic double bass player.
This refreshingly unconventional duo stands out with its eagerness to experiment, explore tonal possiblities and to get the feel of new sounds in instruments that have been deemed so well-known.
Enrico Sartori [clarinets, altosax]
Tristan Honsinger [cello]
Tobias Delius [tenorsax]
Hook, Line & Sinker is the name of a recent quartet driven by Delius and Honsinger. But instead of bringing the other group members, Axel Dörner and Antonio Borghini, to Munich, the will meet up with the munich-based clarinetist from Italy, Enrico Sartori - who, interestingly enough, played another duo concert last December elsewhere in Munich with exactly this Antonio Borghini.
Tristan Honsinger plays in duo constellation with Enrico Sartori as well as with Tobias Delius. Also the two reed players know each other well. Consequently, we can count on a firework of virtuosity across all jazz styles and much further beyond. the latter notably for the absurd theatralics of Honsingers captivating stage presence - for him, classical cello cadences and comedian slapstick are just the blink of an eye apart.
The concerts are organised by Offene Ohren e.V. (main organiser) and City of Munich, Department of Arts and Culture (co-organiser).