News

01/12/2018 - 15:07
First Premiere of the New Year!

My dear friends, the new year starts with the World Premiere of my piece Siku siyo mbali (the day is not far) for EIGHT hands at ONE piano by the wonderful ensemble Tastissimo in Oldenburg on Sunday, the 14th of January, at 5pm. Those of you familiar with my work know Siku siyo mbali was the second movement of my 15th African Suite WAKATI NJEMA. (You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zunivcAJlZs) But this piece was such a torturing earworm for me that I decided to write a bigger piece about that theme. As a coincidence my old friend Ronald Poelman asked me if I could write something for his piano quartet for eight hands at one piano - truly a very special instrumentation! It took me quite a long time, because it is really hard to make sure the hands and the bodies will not run into each other. In fact only a shortened version will be performed on sunday - including percussion in, under and on the Grand Piano. I am really looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!!!

12/24/2017 - 14:00
Musical Advent Calendar, Door 24

Musical Advent Calendar, Door 24: I want to finish this review of the year with a video from the concert in the Prinzenhaus Plön on November 4. "Illuminated Inside" is the second movement of my African Suite No.18 I wrote for Meng-Heng Chen and me. Here the recorder part is played by my old friend Ebba-Maria Künning-Zeijl - very emotional and beautiful, as I think. For me, this piece represents best my feelings during and towards Christmas, the celebration of peace and love. I hope and wish you all will celebrate and enjoy these days with your family and friends. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9cJ_EtYRc0

12/22/2017 - 16:33
Musical Advent Calendar, Door 22

Musical Advent Calendar, Door 22: A highlight of the year was definitely the first of July, when I had the chance to work with six different recorder orchestras of Taiwan in Hsinchu on works of mine they had prepared (and mostly learnt by heart). I met so many incredibly talented and well-prepared students, I was simply overwhelmed. Thank you very much again for this experience!

12/21/2017 - 12:46
Musical Advent Calendar, Door 21

Muiscal Advent Calendar, Door 21: This year I got to know the fantastic American flute player Katharine Rawdon, who lives in Lisboa. She performed my "pina ya phala" in Lisboa on October 3 with her ensemble Syrinxello (Flute, Recorder, and Violoncello) and taught my Flute quintet Njagala nnyimba ("I love music") in the summer flute academy in July in Portugal. Here you see the participants playing the first movement Janu wano (come here). And just today it came out that Katharine will play the premiere of my first Suite for Flute solo on February 13 in Porto. I am looking very much forward to it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ZzQn1dqU0&t=62s

12/19/2017 - 12:55
Musical Advent Calendar, Door 19

Musical Advent Calendar, Door 19: When Marcin Oleś asked me in 2014 to write a piece for Solo double bass for him, I had so many ideas I wrote two whole Suites, my African Suites No. 13 (Ayiyeki) and 14 (Umbalisi mabali). In September this year, we made the audio and video recordings in Marcin's home Kraków. This is the title piece of Umbalisi mabali: The Storyteller. I dedicated it to my father who passed in the autumn I wrote the suite. He was by far the best storyteller I ever met, and I owe him a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qyVrTigR9g

12/18/2017 - 13:09
Advent Calendar, door 18:

Musical Advent Calendar, door 18: In the last week of September I visited my friend Marc Inn Oles in Kraków, and we recorded the two Suites for double bass solo I had written for him. As you see here we had a lot of fun, and depending on the circumstances, sometimes he is taller, sometimes me... Beginning of december I published the music sheet, and now the first music video is ready. WEDWA means "on your own". I hope you like it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubpYKLB40Yc

12/17/2017 - 10:49
Muscal Advent Calendar, Door 17

Musical Advent Calendar, Door 17: Today I am proud to present the second video of IXESHA, my African Suite No. 20. This is the second movement: SAD SONG. And it's really one of the saddest pieces I wrote. My biggest thanks to the Boreas Quartet - Elisabeth Champollion, Julia Fritz, Luise Manske and Jin-Ju Baek - for their emotional performance and to Moritz Renken and Henry Döring for filming it. The photos show us all at the recording and filming session in Bremen on October 14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOX0zYZF1vc&feature=youtu.be

12/16/2017 - 18:10
Musical Advent Calendar, Door 16

Musical Advent Calendar, Door 16: On September 23 the famous Boreas Quartett from Bremen played the Premiere of my 20th African Suite Ixesha in Michaelstein at the annual ERTA-Meeting in the monastery of Michaelstein, and on October 14 we recorded the piece in the music university of Bremen. My biggest thanks to Elisabeth Champollion, Luise Manske, Jin-Ju Baek and Julia Fritz for their wonderful performance! Here is the Third Movement: CONSOLATION. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKaX4aheaQg

12/15/2017 - 11:36
Advent Calendar, Door 15

Musical Advent Calendar, Door 15: In June I started to produce music videos for my pieces. This is the very first one: Hivyo ndivyo (that's it!), played by I flautisti, the London Recorder Quartet at the Premiere in Vienna in March 2016. I took the photographs during the rehearsal. Many thanks to Anna Mikolajková, Jitka Konečná, Doris Lindner und Kerstin Hannah Kubitschek for the brilliant performance and my daughter for helping me with iMovie! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNdU-uM4t_k

12/13/2017 - 17:23
Musical Advent Calendar, Door 13

Advent Calendar, door 18: On June 18 the famous Flanders Recorder Quartet presented their new album FIVE, including Inxaxheba, my African Suite No.16, which I had composed for them two years ago. A wonderful recording, technically brilliant and still very emotional. I also want to point out to the two pieces of Pieter Campo, Meditativo and Vuur, that open the CD; for me they belong to the best contemporary recorder compositions I know. Here you can hear the FRQ playing the first movement of Inxaxheba, Tell me, what Happiness is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTm9HrBhZMg