Reis Demuth Wiltgen: “power-trio” (citizen jazz)
The year began strongly, with the release of Sly, the new album by Luxembourg trio Reis Demuth Wiltgen, which came out on 26 February on CAM Jazz records (Italy).
“This famous trio of piano, double bass and drums have a magnificent natural elegance. These are three musicians who channel their personal qualities into achieving a beautiful aesthetic ambition. Reis Demuth Wiltgen are part of the new generation of jazz musicians who, although they are European-style romantics, are also plugged into New York musical trends, while still demonstrating great originality. The trio have performed, not only across Europe, but also all over the rest of the world, in particular in the US, Canada, South America, Russia and Southeast Asia. Their first three albums won over a large audience, along with the international press.”
Pascal Schumacher: solo vibraphone and electronics
Pascal Schumacher had not long put out his latest album, SOL, on the Neue Mester label (Germany). Yet this insatiable vibraphonist seized the opportunity presented by the pandemic to get back to work on that album and release a revisited version. That is how Re-SOL came to be released on 27 April this year. For this project, Pascal Schumacher asked four other solo musicians to create their own interpretations of the album’s tracks.
Malakoff Kowalski, Viktor Orri Árnason, Fejká and Midori Hirano all created moving, capitaving reimaginings of Schumacher’s pieces for the project.
Greg Lamy: the art of surrounding yourself with the right people!
On 30 April 2021, Greg Lamy’s latest album came out on Igloo Records (Belgium). The title, Observe the Silence, refers to the open spaces left in music, which you sometimes need in order to catch your breath. The album explores a harmonic palette that releases a zephyr of improvisation, taking musicians and listeners to a contemplative place.
This is the Luxembourg guitarist’s third album on Igloo Records. Built on the solid foundations of a close bond and mutual respect with Gautier Laurent and Jean-Marc Robin, established over 15 years, Greg makes the most of the freedom offered by this trio to work regularly with various guest artists: Lionel Loueke, Marco Massa, Gretchen Parlato and even Flavio Boltro.
This album represents a real step forward for the group, which now frequently has prolific pianist Bojan Z featuring as a guest, enabling Greg Lamy to freshen up his methods of improvising and of composing. Italian trumpeter Flavio Boltro is also involved in the live project, which brings a new melodic texture to the group.
Michel Meis 4tet feat. Théo Ceccaldi: the big Boom!
Kaboom, Michel Meis 4tet’s second album, which came out on 28 May 2021 on Double Moon Recrods (Germany), is a veritable audio explosion! As well as his usual sidekicks, Michel Meis has teamed up with violinist Theo Ceccaldi for an album that you have to take your time getting to know. It seems like a lightning-fast yet unpredictable journey through genres, tonalities and atmospheres, giving jazz a brand-new twist by bringing in elements from, among other places, (post-)rock and classical music. From State of Uncertainty, written during the first lockdown, to album-closer Re:build, Kaboom reproduces the uncertainties of the world we live in, but also the possibility that better tomorrows can be built.
Luxembourg was principal exhibitor at jazzahead! digital 2021!
As Europe’s largest jazz trade fair, jazzahead! is an unmissable event for those wanting to meet up with partners from Europe and all over the world.
Until this year, music:LX attended jazzahead! annually, in order to raise the profile of Luxembourg’s jazz scene among international industry professionals. In 2021, Kultur | lx took over as the Grand Duchy’s representative and was planning to take a group of Luxembourg professionals to the in-person event in Bremen, Germany. Ultimately, jazzahead! ended up taking place online, but we decided to team up with Luxembourg artists, promoters and managers to create an introductory film to be shown during a special session at the event. So, at 13:30 on Saturday 1 May, Luxembourg had the honour of screening its own exclusive film, entitled Jazz :LX, enter Luxembourg’s jazz world.
Specially put together for the event, the film was a mix of interviews, videos of live concerts and beautiful images of Luxembourg.
This initiative enabled the 80 or so industry professionals who were present at this session to find out about the Luxembourg jazz scene, as seen from the perspective of eight professionals, introducing eight artists in four of the country’s flagship cultural centres.
From Thursday 29 April to Sunday 2 May 2021, jazzahead! offered no fewer than 32 concerts by showcase bands, along with special events, conferences, panels, a programme of events for industry professionals and numerous networking opportunities.
Kultur lx took part in the event, alongside Luxembourg artists and promoters!
Promotion is one of the central pillars of the support kultur l lx provides for Luxembourg artists. We are therefore proud and happy to highlight things that have been well received by the media in different countries.
In Germany, the trio Reis Demuth Wiltgen’s album SLY enjoyed an excellent reception in magazines such as:
Jazzthing: “Echoes of the trio’s trademark aesthetic, namely the repetitive patterns of minimal music and techno, can still be found in the 13 original pieces on Sly. Apart from the band’s improvisation skills, this trademark aesthetic has become the driving force behind the boundless energy of their melodic fluency, harmonic density and rhythmic intensity.”
Jazzthetik: Rolf Thomas stresses the three performers’ strengths: “The three musicians demonstrate the qualities every piano trio need if they want to hold the audience’s attention: listening to one another, anticipation and agility”.
Concerto: Zappy highlights the trio’s musical maturity: “Clever, artful or simply creative – in Sly, Reis, Demuth and Wiltgen have produced their best work yet. Their joy at playing shines through”.
Pascal Schumacher also got noticed thanks to his collaborations with other artists for his latest album, Re:SOL. The rework provided by producer and DJ Fejká earned Scumacher his first coverage in webzines and magazines focusing on electronic music and pop, such as ourculture and SERIALGK: “Downtempo rhythmic beats and elegant synth samples take center-stage, all the while the vibraphone makes discreet appearances lightening what could otherwise be a much darker mood”.
In the Audio magazine review of Greg Lamy’s Observe the Silence album, Werner Stiefele hailed the bond between the musicians and the richness of their improvisations: “They are intuitively in sync with each other. Lamy’s compositions leave lots of room for improvisation”.
As far as the German airwaves are concerned, the group have been given a lot of radio play, particularly on Byte FM and WDR3.
For the first time, Kultur lx – music department organized a virtual conference for classical musicians and music professionals: « next step Germany ». Two days of talks and discussions on-screen to focus on the German music market, one of the major territories. On 21 and 22 April 2021, five representatives of different expertise gave insights into their profession and explained their perspectives on current developments and – inevitably – the ongoing pandemic.
Artist manager Baris Toker (BT Arts) explained the key aspects of his young agency, actual challenges with ongoing cancellations, and how successful collaborations are getting started and maintained. An overview of the German festival history and the different existing formats today was provided by dramaturge Carsten Hinrichs, responsible for the programming at Musikfestspiele Potsdam-Sanssouci and also chief editor of the magazine Rondo. He explained very frankly the difficulties of programming in the second year of the pandemic, the role of concert streaming, and gave some valuable advice on how to apply successfully for a festival. The shift in the recording industry was in focus in the session with Kai-Uwe Diaz Philipp, senior communication manager at Sony Classical. From how to find a label to the continuing importance of the CD in the career of classical musicians, the participating artists got a lot of answers to their questions. Young baritone Samuel Hasselhorn shared his very personal perspective on the classical music scene, covering topics from building a strategy, making decisions, and the push of winning a major competition. Last but not least, PR manager Birgit Niemeyer (for artists) who was a partner in planning this event, revealed the secrets of successful media work and what it needs to find the right story.
15 participants from Luxembourg enjoyed well-filled six hours of expert knowledge and the opportunity to ask their individual questions. This exchange was a successful premiere and will see follow sessions in the future.
Over the course of the last ten years, composers of Luxembourg have written a variety of works. Two recent recordings testify to what is currently to be discovered in the Luxembourg contemporary music scene. The two albums feature different positions in contemporary chamber and orchestra music, interpreted by two leading ensembles from the Grand-Duchy.
Echoes of Autumn and Light – New Chamber Music from Luxembourg/ Kammerata Luxembourg
The chamber music ensemble Kammerata Luxembourg released their new album Echoes of Autumn and Light – New Chamber Music from Luxembourg in spring 2021 with UK based label Toccata Next, that focuses on new, original and unknown repertoire, mostly in world premiere recordings.
Founded in 1985, Kammerata Luxembourg has firmly cemented its reputation within Luxembourg’s music scene with over 30 years of music productions. It performs contemporary pieces, often new works by Luxembourgish composers, in combination with repertoire from the classical and romantic eras.
The upcoming album presents works from four different composers, all of them intrinsically linked to the Grand-Duchy and its music industry: Camille Kerger, Marcel Reuter, Georges Lentz and Markus Brönnimann. Their compositions revolve around the theme of light, sometimes bright and dazzling, sometimes subdued and dark, as well as the theme of autumn with its bright colours and joys, and the decline and sadness behind. Delicate sounds and rich harmonies, as well as an intensive dialogue between the performers of the different scores!
Meet the composers and the performers in their trailer :
More information :
https://www.kammerata.lu/audio/echoes-of-autumn-and-light-new-chamber-music-from-luxembourg/
https://toccataclassics.com/shop/next/
Orchestral Music – BOUMANS, I. / PÜTZ, M. / SANAVIA, J. / WILTGEN, R. (Luxembourg Contemporary Music, Vol. 1) / Solistes Européens, Luxembourg, König
A selection of orchestral music by five contemporary composers from Luxembourg can be discovered on a new recording that NAXOS released in March 2021. This is the first of a three-volume series the renowned label will publish in the near future.
The programme of this first album covers a fascinating spectrum: Ivan Boumans explores the field of biology in Meiosis where the music undergoes transformations, whereas for Roland Wiltgen it is celestial mechanics that drives Orbital Resonances. The idea of transformation is also important to Marco Pütz as he generates exciting ‘chordal clusters.’ Inspired by a fresco, Jeannot Sanavia’s Hélice is a study in agitation, while Tatsiana Zelianko charts the death and rebirth of a butterfly in music of passionate drama.
All of the five works are world premiere recordings played by the Solistes Européens, Luxembourg (SEL) under the baton of their principal conductor and music director Christoph König. The compositions by Jeannot Sanavia and Roland Wiltgen are published by Luxembourg Music Publishers.
More information :
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.579059
The German-Luxembourgish artist Anina Rubin was recently awarded the QuattroPole-Musikpreis endowed with 10.000 Euro, for her musical project “With The Moon In Her Face”. Composer Catherine Kontz was elected to the finals with her project on endurance, “12 hours”. Both works are music performances that explore the potential of spatial sound composition and 3D audio techniques.
The QuattroPole-Musikpreis, initiated by the cities of Luxembourg, Metz, Saarbrücken, and Trier, sets its focus on digital technology and innovation in contemporary music. In this second edition, eight music experts chose the finalists and the winner among the applications. More than reason enough to introduce these exciting new music projects.
12 Hours / Catherine Kontz
Catherine Kontz’s new creation “12 Hours” is a marathon for voice and electronics. In times when the prospects of attending the next performance seem to be far away, we are very curious to discover the other extremes in a short talk with the composer:
How did you come up with the idea of “12 hours” and what is it about?
Catherine Kontz: The piece was commissioned by mezzo-soprano Rosie Middleton as part of a series that explores the effects of trauma, psychological and physical, on the singing and speaking voice. We decided on the concept of endurance as the basis for this work – with an interest in how endurance works in music, what it does to the listeners’ and the performers’ perception of time and sound, and how it might affect the voice. The long duration offers a wonderful opportunity to explore a more unknown territory, especially in terms of performance stamina, but it also opens the music to compositional structures and processes which can evolve ever so slowly, and over the course of a very long duration, that it is never possible to experience this sort of thing in a normal-sized piece.
How close was this composition created with the performer, mezzo-soprano Rosie Middleton?
CK: Before I started to compose “12 Hours”, Rosie and I enjoyed a residency at Snape Maltings, UK, which gave us the chance to experiment with the sound and decide what it was we wanted to achieve. Although it is a work for one singer only, there is a lot of other material, like backing tracks that can be manipulated live and entirely based on Rosie’s voice samples. So, in performance, you have the feeling that there are many Rosies in the room really. After our initial experimentations, for which we make a record of the longest notes she could achieve, in many different variations. We even tried out oxygen boosts and other (legal) performance enhancers and lung trainers. I then decided how each hour should be constructed and composed the piece accordingly. The live performance, however, leaves a lot of room for interpretation and improvisation too, as Rosie follows a score which mainly contains instructions on the pitch and how to react to whatever else is going on, in sound and theatrical action. Her live voice as well as the pre-recorded tracks are all processed through a spatial sound program live, on the fly, and I can also react to what she is doing and “move” the sounds any way I like around the audience. So as well as the many “Rosies”, the live manipulations of sound and light also feed into the performance dialogue.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges and funny moments during the creation process, the first try-out performance, and the recent film-making?
CK: During a second residency at King’s Creative Quarter in early 2020, we trialed a 4-hour version. With the help of a brilliant team of creatives, it was quite magical to see the piece come to life, including lighting, costumes, and also a small invited audience. Everyone was a bit nervous about how it would feel to perform uninterrupted, for four hours, but once the performance had started, time seemed to fly by, leaving us tired yet wanting to do more by the end of hour four! Musicians are used to practicing long hours anyway, but it is of course different when you perform to an audience. This is certainly one of the challenges of this piece. By chance, we could hear a bell from the courtyard of Somerset House chime on the hour, with each hour passing, and it made for a moving ending to the piece, when the clock struck 8. I was so glad we started exactly on time!!
CK: To show audiences what it is like being inside this immersive performance, we have recently made a 12-minute film with Hannah Lovell, using the binaural version of the program, for the sound, so everyone can enjoy it on headphones. For the music, I have compressed the compositional process of Hour 1 and reduced it to “12 minutes” which makes it a bit more intense than the hour-long version. And so “12 Minutes” has become a side-project of “12 Hours”, 1 quick shower of sound and colour instead of a long bath – for when the immersive version of the piece is not possible. It was thrilling to find new ways into the piece as Covid has slightly delayed a proper 12-hour premiere.
“Endurance” is – in a slightly different perspective – an issue for every artist during the ongoing pandemic. Is this link a coincidence?
CK: We started working on “12 Hours” in the summer of 2019, when pandemics were a thing of fiction, at least in this part of the world. However, the skills, resilience, and stamina which artists and musicians have had to display during this pandemic, do relate to the piece. 12 Hours does put its performers and audience to the test. The hope is that we will make it through. Time will tell.
More about Catherine Kontz: http://www.catherinekontz.com/12-hours/
With The Moon In Her Face / Anina Rubin
As an artist, German-Luxembourgish Anina Rubin moves at the interface between music, performance, visual and digital art. She studied languages, photography, and media arts in Berlin and is currently at the university of applied arts and design in Karlsruhe, Germany. Her works have been shown at the ZKM in Karlsruhe, the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, or the Tate Modern in London.
Her creation “Mit dem Mond im Gesicht” (“With The Moon In Her Face”) is a spatial sound piece, a higher-order ambisonics musical production with multiple layers of moving images that are written and produced for live performances. “It tells a story about sphere-travelings in which the protagonist is craving to grasp a moment of freedom. Yet she seems to lose herself, over and over again, while thriving for her wish. Each scene ends with a dissolving metamorphose into a new realm until an utter dissolution brings back a sensation of a union,” describes Anina Rubin. The sound collage layers piano compositions, vocal recordings, lyrics, modular synthesizers, field recordings as well as many sound designs and processed snippets.
At the moment, Anina Rubin is working on several new creations. “I am always working on a couple of projects related to sound, music and/or moving images. The focus is mostly on live productions, especially for spatialized sound performances. For one project – which is an international production backed by Openscreen a.s.b.l. – I have the pleasure to work with Birds on Mars who helped me to generate cloned Anina voices to let ANN-neurons become alive and speak and sing! Another project, which has been already a couple of years of preparation will fuse the audience’s senses with an ecstatic handful of lyrics, the live transformation from cacao into golden sparkles, and musicians whose instruments are spatializing during the show. Yet this project will not be ready until the end of 2022! And I have only recently started a duo project with one very talented and sparkling musician, so let’s hope that music can be performed live again soon… with real audiences… that are allowed to dance, hug and show their smiles.”
For more information about Anina Rubin : https://anina.land/
https://quattropole.org/missionen/attraktivitaet_steigern/kultur/quattropole_musikpreis
On 11 March 2021, SHUFFLE – Luxembourg Jazz Meeting was held online. It was a day packed with panels and live music, with the aim of bringing together music-industry professionals from all over the world and Luxembourg artists.
Over 180 industry industry professionals logged in from Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy and France, but also from the Middle East, the Philippines, the USA and even Canada. They came to attend showcases by eight Luxembourg artists and to take part in networking sessions, with a view to sparking discussions and establishing new working relationships.
Thanks to the support and energy of all the participants, we managed to make this online event into a lively, vibrant affair, doing our best to recreate the atmosphere of an in-person event. The responses have been very positive, so we would like to warmly thank everyone who attended.
All the concerts streamed during the event are available here – please watch and share them freely!
The following artists performed on the SHUFFLE stage: