photo: L.Sens

ETIENNE ROLIN (FR/USA)

The French-American, Composer, Improviser, Soundpainter, teacher, Etienne Rolin (1952 California) has a catalogue of over one thousand works revealing a marked taste for eclecticism ranging from solo to opera through big band charts. Following degrees in Music and Philosophy (University of San Francisco) he moved to Paris in 1974 to work with Nadia Boulanger then Messiaen, Ivo Malec, Xenakis and Franco Donatoni. Based in Bordeaux France, he is in frequent performance mode soundpainting with his NASA ensemble, performing Hindustani raga on Bansuri flute and new music on basset horn and Glissotar a keyless conical woodwind derived from the Hungarian tarotgato.
From 1985 to 2022 he has been teaching in Bordeaux as analysis professor improvisation workshop director at Pôle Supérieure Musique et Danse (teaching tools for future professors) and the University of Bordeaux with the Bordeaux research group, SCRIME - a Bordeaux research group, He is author of four books (in french) Comprovisation (in english) available through Editons Tempéraments which he co-founded in Bordeaux (www.temperaments.fr), as well as the recent "Lexique Croisé des Arts a personal dictionnary on music & p, édition Delatour.
Many recordings of his music havz been made with premiers by Ars Nova, Ensemble 2E 2M, Ensemble Intercontemporain and by soloists Claude Delangle, Daniel Kienztzy, Pierre-Yves Artaud, JohnKenny, David Taylor, His Jazz-open Improvisation experience include collaborations with Steve Lacy, Jerry Bergonzi,Vinko Globokar, Joëlle Léandre, Peter Jaquemyn, Albrecht Maurer, Theo Jorgensmann, Kent Carter, Glenn Ferris , Bernard Lubat, Daniel Humair, Andy Middleton, György Kurtag Jr. etc.
As a master class clinician Etienne Rolin gives concert-conferences on real-time composition (soundpainting) and multi cultural influences in new
music : crossover jazz, contemporary idioms, Hindustani raga,electronics).

www.etiennerolinart.wordpress.com

photo: Valery Smirnov

YURI AKBALKAN (RU)

Yuri Akbalkan is a Russian-born composer making work in the field of multimedia art with a focus on human perception and sensory modalities.
He has studied composition at the Rimski-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory with Prof. Sergei Slonimsky (RU), and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Prof. Markus Hechtle (DE). Currently he lives in Hamburg, where he is doing Artistic Research (Dr. sc. mus.) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.
Artist in residence at the ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe in the frame of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for New Music, Contemporary Dance, Theater and New Media (project of the Goethe-Institut). During his time in St. Petersburg, he was a participant at the Electroacoustic Music Lab ESG-21, lecturer and co-curator of the Course In Experimental Music Practice, and Editor in Chief at the Edition reMusik.org as a part of the Saint Petersburg Contemporary Music Center.
His music has been performed at locations and festivals including reMusik.org, ZKM | Hertz-Lab: ne(x)t_generation, Sound Ways, Fin de siècle, Exposition XXI, Opus 52, ProToArt, the Pythian Games composers’ competition, blurred edges, Moscow Philharmonia, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, Orpheus Radio, Manege Central Exhibition Hall, New Stage of Alexandrinsky Theatre.
Works performed by ensemble recherche, noname-ensemble, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME), MolOt-ensemble, Gallery of Actual Music Ensemble (GAM-Ensemble), eNsemble Pro Arte, Mariinsky New Music Ensemble, {instead} ensemble, Ensemble Adapter.

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SONJA BEEH (DE)

is active as a trombonist, composer, arranger and teacher.
From 2013 to 2015 she studied jazz trombone at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig with Simon Harrer and Johannes Lauer, among others. She also received classical lessons from Thomas Leyendecker.
As part of the Erasmus program, she studied at the Codarts Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Rotterdam with Ilja Reijngoud, Bert Boeren and Andy Hunter, among others.
From 2016-2019 she studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Dan Gottshall and Joachim Preu.
Sonja already has projects with the NDR Big Band, Nils Landgren, Scott Robinson, Jan Delay, Fred Frith, Rajesh K. Mehta, Vlatko Kučan, Adrian Cox and many more.
She is an integral part of the Hamburg jazz scene and present as a bandleader as well as a sideman.
Current projects: 2 gegen 3, Michel Schroeder Ensemble, Hans Anselm Big Band, Three Atmospheres, Sonja Beeh's Trombone Casserole.

https://www.sonjabeeh.de/

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VINCENT DOMBROWSKI (DE)

is a saxophonist, flutist, composer and arranger living in Hamburg, Germany and working in the fields of jazz, improvised music and crossover projects. After studying a Bachelor of Music at the HfMT Hamburg and IfM Osnabrück, he is currently studying a master of music in jazz composition under Prof. Wolf Kerschek. He has recorded and performed with many different musicians and in ensembles such as: Vincent Dombrowski Quintett & Trio, Nordsnø Ensemble, Birdland Bigband, Kit Downes, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Christopher Dell, Vlatko Kučan, Fred Frith, Michel Godard, Bentō, Philipp Gerschlauer, Scott Robinson, Michel Schroeder Largeensemble, YvoeRee, Florian Weber, Gustav Broman, Albin Vesterberg and many more. In addition to his role as a performer, Vincent works in teams to organize the ”Birdland Bigband”, the ”Jazzkitchen Hamburg” and the new concert-series: ”mycelium – rethinking jazz”.

https://vincent-dombrowski.com

photo: Oliver Schweers

DOMINIC HARRISON (DE)

Awarded first place in competitions such as “Northern European Jazz Talent 2019” and the “International Big Band Contest 2019”, the drummer Dominic Harrison is a rising name on the European Jazz Scene.
After an almost lifelong journey through different musical genres, with the start of his studies in 2016, he intensively began to study jazz in all its forms and to live and love it.
In addition to the HfMT Hamburg, he gained valuable practical experience in the outstanding Landesjugendjazzorchester of Hamburg and Brandenburg. His development led to concerts and collaborations with artists such as Randy Brecker, Melissa Aldana, Joris Teepe and Gabriel Coburger. His own various projects also include “The Collective Abroad”, which emerged from the European Jazzlab 2019 – a band with outstanding European talents – which tours regularly in Germany and Scandinavia. 

https://dominicharrison.com/

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ELENA KHURGINA (RU)

is a harpsichordist, based in Hamburg, Germany. As a musician she is interested in historical performance itself and in collaborative interdisciplinary projects that allow to study the relationship between modern and old, sound and vision, and music as a tool for non-verbal communication.
Elena was born in Kharkiv (Ukraine) and started to study piano at the age of five. She graduated Gnessin State Music Academy in 2013 (Moscow) as a pianist under Prof. Vera Nosina. At the age of twelve Elena decided to study Harpsichord and historical performance as a second subject/instrument, and followed this path during her further education. She became a member of Cantus Firmus Orchestra as soloist and basso continuo player, performed in Moscow Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra with musicians including Alexey Utkin, Christian Zacharias in halls such as Moscow Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, The Moscow Conservatory, and different venues in South Ural, Ukraine, Netherlands, and Italy.
In 2017 Elena moved to Germany to focus on historical performances. Currently, she is studying Harpsichord in Hochschule für Musik und Theater (Hamburg) under Prof. Menno van Delft and Prof. Carsten Lohff.
She participated in Master Classes with Elisabeth Joyé, Menno van Delft, Skip Sempé, Christophe Rousset, Goska Isphording and took part in different festivals and concerts in Hamburg, Berlin, Köln in various halls: Elbphilharmonie, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Universität der Künste (Berlin), etc. She performed as a soloist and with different Ensembles, e. g. Hamburg Camerata.

https://elenakhurgina.com

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CARMEN KLEYKENS VIDAL (ES)

Carmen Kleykens Vidal is a sound artist, multimedia composer, improviser and cellist based in Hamburg, Germany. Her work explores text as media with an experimental approach, using voice, body and sound control in the space as main sources of virtual action and strong political message.
She is currently the main cellist of Barcelona Modern Ensemble performing in the International Composition Course Barcelona Modern and working with composers as Mark Andre, Benet Casablancas, Demian Luna or Francesco Filidei among others. She has played as soloist and with ensembles in halls as Auditori de Barcelona, Palau de la Música Catalana, Phonos UB, Fundació Miró, Fylkingen, Fort de Vaise, between others and participated in projects as "Fifty for the Future" of Kronos Quartet, playing with them in the festival "Grec" of Barcelona.
She has given Improvisation masterclasses in the Post-grade of Improvisation of ESMUC, Barcelona and participated in the Sound Plasma Festival with the Estonian premiere of ‘In Vain’ by J. F. Haas with Ensemble for New Music Tallinn. In 2021 she released her first album of free improvisation with Camilla Nebbia, Axel Filip & Paul Pignon with ears&eyes Records and carries the cello of Sergio Castrillón making the premiere of Yo soy la Selva for prepared cello.
She has worked as composer and sound designer in Die Versammlung, production by Herbordt & Mohren that was hosted in the Theater Rampe, Stuttgart, as beginning of season 2022/2023, having a continuous collaboration with DieInstitution.com. Also Carmen will participate in the Incubateur de Royaumont 2023 with Dichotomia Tactus, a project created by Regrat Duo (Carolina Santiago & Carmen Kleykens -piano & multimedia) in collaboration with the software developers LiSiLog.com.
Carmen studied the European Masters in Contemporary Music CoPeCo (in Tallinn, Stockholm, Lyon and Hamburg) being her main tutors Michele Tadini, Jean Geoffroy and Greg Beller. Currently, she is studying the Master Degree in Multimedia Composition at the HfMT Hamburg (Germany) with Prof. Alexander Schubert and Konstantina Orlandatou and working as a sound producer in HOOU.

https://www.carmenkleykens.com

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EDWARD KRENZLIN (DE)

 ist 24 Jahre alt, gebürtiger Berliner und sammelte während der Oberstufe in ein kleinen Probenkeller seine ersten Erfahrungen mit der Musik. Nach der Schule besuchte er 2018 die Studienvorbereitung für Pop und danach Jazz im Bethanien in Berlin Kreuzberg. Seit 2020 findet man ihn in der Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg wo er Jazz Kontrabass und E-Bass studiert.
Seine musikalische Leidenschaft und Inspiration reicht von Jazz über World Music zu Techno, von Free Improvisation über Odd Meter zu Four On The Floor. 

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ARVID MAIER (DE)

besuchte von 2013-2016 das Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Gymnasium in Berlin, das musikalisch hochbegabte junge Menschen aus aller Welt fördert und auf ein Musikstudium vorbereitet. Hierdurch bekam Arvid als Jungstudent Unterricht am Jazzinstitut Berlin bei Gerard Presencer.
Arvid war Mitglied in den Landesjugendjazzorchestern der Länder Berlin, Brandenburg und Hamburg, mit denen er zahlreiche Konzerte in Deutschland und eine Konzerttour nach China absolvierte und eine große Bandbreite von Musik spielen durfte, so neben der klassischen Bigbandliteratur auch Musik von Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schneider und Bob Florence sowie von deutschen Komponisten wie Rainer Tempel und Gebhard Ullmann.
2015 gewann er mit der Band „Unknown Quartet“ die 13. Bundesbegegnung Jugend Jazzt und erhielt den Skoda Jazz Preis sowie einen Solistenpreis.
Von 2016 bis 2021 studierte Arvid Jazztrompete bei Claus Stötter an der Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, wo er Unterricht von Jazzmusikern wie Fiete Felsch, Mark Nauseef, Vlatko Kucan und Wolf Kerschek erhielt. 2019 wurde ihm von der Franz-WirthGedächtnis-Stiftung ein einjähriges Stipendium zugesprochen.
Von 2018 bis 2020 war Arvid Mitglied im renommierten Bundesjazzorchester, wo er an Arbeitsphasen mit Niels Klein, Jiggs Whigham, Steffen Schorn, Django Bates, Wolfgang Niedecken und der WDR Big Band teilnahm. Konzerttourneen des Ensembles führten ihn neben zahlreichen deutschen Städten auch in die USA, nach Kanada, Israel und England. Aktuell wirkt er in verschiedenen Projekten mit, so unter anderem Victor Gelling‘s T.P.C.M., deren Album „Everything I Glue Together Falls Apart“ 2020 bei RecordJet erschien. Des Weiteren zu nennen sind die Pascal Klewer Big Band, das Vincent Dombrowski Quintet und die Kooperation mit dem Musikproduzenten Tom Lawyer, die eine 2021 veröffentlichte Single hervorbrachte. Auch im Klassikbereich konnte Arvid Erfahrungen sammeln. So erhielt er im Studium drei Jahre Klassik-Unterricht bei Eckhard Schmidt vom Philharmonischen Staatsorchester Hamburg und wirkte bei Konzerten des Stegreif-Orchesters, der Jungen Norddeutschen Philharmonie und einem Projektorchester des PODIUM Esslingen mit. Darüber hinaus nahm er an zahlreichen Neue-Musik-Projekten der HfMT Hamburg teil.

photo: Sophie Daum

CLÉMENCE MANACHÈRE (FR)

Clémence Manachère comes from the southwest of France, from the foot of the Pyrenees and from the hand of the Atlantic.
At the age of 9 she studied solfège and classical piano at the Conservatory of Pau, France.
At 14, she participates in the festival "les Enfants du Jazz" and hears Elvin Jones live in Barcelonnette, her grandmother's village in the "Alpes de haute Provence" - her baptism in jazz.
At 15 and 16 she participates again in the festival ',les Enfants du Jazz''.
At 16, she buys her first flute and begins to learn the instrument autodidactically.
From 18 to 24 she studies architecture in Toulouse, Mexico City and Paris-Belleville.
At 23, during her last year of studies in Paris-Belleville, she takes lessons with the saxophonist and flutist Guillaume Naturel.
From Paris she travels to Brazil, where she plays in the Orchestra da Escóla Portatil de Chorro and the Orquestra da Pro Arte and João Bosco.
Back in Europe, she studies jazz flute at the preparatory course of the Berlin-Neukölln Music School.
In October 2017, she begins jazz studies at the HfMT Hamburg, where she studies with Fiete Felsch and Gabriel Coburger. Additionally, she starts taking drum lessons with Mark Nauseef. The rhythmic vision of Mark Nauseef is a huge improvisational and compositional impulse for her.
To bring her compositions to life, she creates her project Underwater.
Her first record, Clémence Manachère Unterwasser, was released in February 2020.
In February 2021, she creates her second project ,,Introspection Quartet'' where she experiments graphic notation.
In October 2021, her band Unterwasser will record in a new line-up the second record EXPLOSANTE in Hamburg.

http://clemencemanachere.de/

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CAMILA NEBBIA (AR)

is a saxophone player, composer, improviser and multidisciplinary artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina based in Berlin, Germany. Her artistic practice reflects the relationship between composition, free improvised music, film and mixed media creations, where memory and identity are some of the main resonances of her work. Her visual work includes super 8 film, archives, destroyed archives, expanded cinema & digital video. Co-creator and curator of the collective interdisciplinary group and improvised music series “La Jaula se ha vuelto pájaro y se ha volado”, the concert series “Guillotina Fest” and creator and curator of the streaming concert series called “The warmth of proximity” for womxn, transgender & non binary experimental musicians presented at the Experimental Sound Studio of Chicago. Co-founder of the collective and independent record label based in Portugal “Habitable Records”. Played and recorded with many artists of the international scene such as Valentin Garvie, La Big Nant, Axel Filip Sextet, Nacho Szulga Quintet, El devenir del río, Julian Mekler sextet, Burka, Paula Shocron, Barbara Togander, Patrick Shiroishi, Paul Pignon, Christer Bothén, Vinnie Sperrazza, Katt Hernandez, Nicola Hein, Kenneth Jimenez, Lesley Mok, Violeta García, Susana Santos Silva, Tom Rainey, Elsa Bergman, l’ Arfi collective of Lyon, Joanna Mattrey, Flatter Ensemble, John Hughes, Lesley Mok, among others. Has released as a band leader and solo performer “A veces la luz de lo que existe resplandece solamente a la distancia” (Kuai 2017), “De este lado” (Club del disco 2019), Aura (ears&eyes records 2020),“Corre el río de la memoria” (ramble records 2021) and “Presencias” (Sound Holes 2021). Participated in many festivals around the world such as Winter Jazz Fest NYC co-presented with M3 (U.S), Buenos Aires Jazz Festival (ARG), Santa Fe Jazz Festival (AR), Lima Jazz Festival (PE), FRIM concerts at Fylkingen, Stockholm (SE), Diskurs Festival (DE), among others, and has assisted to several residencies such as SIM (NYC) Jazz & Creative Music dictated by Tyshawn Sorey and Vijay Iyer (CA), OMI (NYC), Konvent Zero (ES) UNCOOL (CH), Ensemble Evolution (US), CirkusVranen (SE), CCK with Tim Berne, Marilyn Crispell & Ben Goldberg (AR), among others. Has composed the music of the short film “Cuando Corro” by Ana Luz Furth 2020, the circus performance “Gården” 2021 by Anna Aro and the circus ritual performance “Lei-La” by Karla Arévalo 2022/23.
Studied classical saxophone at the Conservatory "Astor Piazzolla", jazz at the "Manuel de Falla" Conservatory, Film Direction at the Universidad Del Cine, and the masters degree program “CoPeCo Contemporary Performance and Composition. The two-year program occurs each semester in a different institution: Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Estonia, Royal College of Music in Stockholm in Sweden, National Superior Conservatory of Music Dance of Lyon in France and Hamburg University of Music and Theatre in Germany. Was part of the second cohort of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians M3 created by Jen Shyu & Sara Serpa 202.

https://www.camilanebbia.com

photo: Eva Taouktsi Fiolitaki

DIMITRA-MARIA PAVLOU (GR)

is a violinist, improvisor and sound artist from Greece. She studied Applied Music Studies and Music Education at the Department of Music Science and Art (University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki). Her practice focuses on free improvisation, contemporary performance and electroacoustic/electronic composition. In addition, the social aspects of music and its impacts on the people involved are fields of great interest to her, especially regarding improvisation, therefore she always seeks to explore these through interviews and personal research. She is currently based in Lübeck, Germany.

photo: Heritage Space

TAM THI PHAM (VN)

is a Vietnamese multimedia composer, improviser and performer. She completed her Bachelor of Musicology at the Vietnam National Academy of Music, a course in New Compositional Techniques at the University of Music and Theater Hamburg and is currently enrolled there in Master in Multimedia Composition with Prof. Dr. Georg Hajdu, Prof. Dr. Gordon Kampe and Prof. Dr. Alexander Schubert.
Ms. Pham participated in many different professional courses on improvisation, contemporary music and composition organized by the Domdom – The Hub For Experimental Music & Art and SPIIC ensemble.
Her works are a journey of exploring individuality in an attempt to connect with the surrounding social environment. She is trying to build a way of expression in which music and performance are two indivisible parts.
Tam Thi Pham plays electronic music, objects and Dan Bau (traditional Vietnamese instruments). She especially enjoys working with choreographers and dancers both as improviser and as a composer. Besides her activities as a composer and a performer, she was also very active as an organizer of various discussions on contemporary music and art and concerts in Hanoi and Hamburg. She has also been participating at festivals in Vietnam, Germany, Japan and Serbia such as: “Hanoi Sound Stuff Festival”, Hanoi, 2014; “Hanoi New Music Festival”, Hanoi, 2013 and 2018; “Blurred edges” festival, Hamburg, 2019, 2021; “next_generation 8.0 and 8.5” festival, Karlsruhe, 2019 and 2021; “Dance fest” Hanoi, 2019; Misch Masch festival, NPO Dance Box, 2021; Exhibition “Zemljišta: situacije i dokumenta” (EN: “Grounds: situations and documents) at Gallery ”Jovan Popović” in Opovo, Serbia, 2021; “here&there” in reconnect – program of Goethe Institute in Hanoi, 2021. TAOI/ II, 2019 and TAOI (The Art of Improvisation) 2021 …
Residency: 2018; FAMLAB Residency 2018 (a programme under the British Council’s Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth Project). Guess artist in TPAM festival, Japan, 2020 organized by Japan foundation.

www.tamthipham.com

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TOM WENDLER (DE)

lebt als Posaunist und Komponist in Hamburg. Seine musikalische Ausbildung an der Posaune begann er mit 12 Jahren bei seinem Mentor Detlef Landeck. Mittlerweile studiert er an der HfMT Hamburg bei Dan Gottshall und Gabriel Coburger. 

photo: Niklas Stadler

NIKLAS WERK (DE)

Niklas Werk is ein Gitarrist und Komponist aus Hamburg.
Seit 2020 studiert er an der HfMT Hamburg Jazz bei Sven Kerschek und Gabriel Coburger.
Er beschäftigt sich mit Improvisation und Komposition im Spannungsfeld zwischen Jazz und elektronischer Musik.
Mit seinem Trio "lucid" kombiniert er in seinen Eigenkompositionen Elemente aus Jazz, elektronischer Musik und freier Improvisation.

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FIONA XUE JU (CN)

Born in Tsingtao, China, Xue Ju (Fiona) spent her early years in Shanghai at the Attached Middle School to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she studied composition under Chinese composer Wenpei Ju. She later moved to the United States where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in composition from Oberlin Conservatory. She has studied with Grammy Award-winning composer Stephen Hartke, Lewis Nielson, Elizabeth Ogonek, Lyn Goeringer (electronic music), Tom Lopez (electronic music).
From 2020, Fiona pursued her education as one of the members in master’s program CoPeCo (Contemporary Performance and Composition), which is an itinerant program across four conservatories in European cities: Estonian Academy for Music and Theater (Estonia), Royal Academy of Music of Stockholm (Sweden), Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon (France) and Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (Germany). 
As a composer, she has written a variety of music for chamber ensembles, electronics, films, installation arts, and multimedia collaborations. Her music has been praised for its “fresh-sounding ideas” and described as “aurally fascinating” (Cleveland Classical). In 2018, Her sinfonietta piece Invocation: Blessing the Boat for CME (Oberlin Contemporary Musical Ensemble) was well received after it was performed at the Cleveland Museum of Art. As a former musical theatre scholar at Oberlin, she developed skills in theatre music, staging, lighting, and costume design. In recent years, Fiona has been exploring the connections between music and the other arts, working with visual artists, performance artists, and film directors on collaborative art projects. She is interested in how sound as a medium combines with installation art, interactive design, and performance art, to transfer electronic music from the virtual digital area to the physical performance space.
Fiona Xue Ju is now working on a series of works related to the topic of “human – society – ego”. Under the situation of pandemics, the works present her reflections on reality and society and the concern for human nature. 

https://xjcomposer.com

photo: Lee Maas

ANNA W. ZOLYNIAK (PL)

is a polish vocalist and songwriter, grew up in West Germany and moved to Hamburg for a heartfelt wish: jazz music. After her musicology study at the University of Hamburg she has finished her bachelor degree in jazz and popular music as classical voice at HfMT Hamburg in 2021.
While studying different jazz genres she has discovered her fascination for improvised music by experiencing it under the direction of Vlatko Kucan.
She has performed with musicians like: Gustav Broman, Fred Frith, Vlatko Kucan, Rjesh K. Mehta, and Albin Vesterberg to name a few.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5plG6vtsHr0

photo: Fabian Hammerl

VLATKO KUČAN (DE)

Vlatko Kučan (b. 1963 Sarajevo, Ex-Yugoslavia) studied popular music, jazz and music therapy at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg.
He works as a musician (instruments: saxophones and clarinets), composer, producer, music therapist and educator.
His various works focus and explore the possibilities of artistic expression through the art of improvisation. They cross and extend traditional boundaries of contemporary music, jazz, improvised music, theatre and film music. Another focus of Kucan’s work is the combination of literature, philosophy and music. He also works as a director for radio plays and audio books.
He performed and collaborated with leading protagonists of contemporary jazz (i.e. Carla Bley, Lester Bowie, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, Bill Elgart, Dieter Glawischnig, Howard Johnson, Jay Oliver, Barre Philips, Tomasz Stanko, Steve Swallow, Kenny Wollesen) and improvised music (i.e. Derek Bailey, Malcolm Goldstein, Barry Guy, Aleksander Kolkowski, Jim Menesses, Rajesh Mehta, Lauren Newton, Maggie Nichols, Mia Zabelka).
His theatre collaborations include directors Karin Beier, Michael Bogdanov, Herbert Fritsch, Brian Michaels, Robert Wilson and musicians Tom Waits, Lester Bowie and Giora Feidman.
His works on literature and music include productions based on texts by Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Charles Baudelaire, Anne Sexton and Mascha Kaleko and collaborations with various actors (i.e. Christian Brückner, Hannelore Elsner, Corinna Harfouch, Susanne Lothar, Dietmar Mues, Barbara Nüsse, Christian Redl, Lars Rudolph, Hanna Schygulla, Otto Sander, Ulrich Tukur, Ulrich Wildgruber) and authors (i.e. Peter Handke, Siri Hustvedt, Hellmuth Karasek, Siegfried Lenz, Benjamin Lebert, Helmut Schmidt).
Vlatko Kučan is teaching Improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater (HfMT) in Hamburg, Germany at the Jazz department BA and MA programs and the Contemporary Performance and Composition (CoPeCo) MA program. From 2018 he is also the head of the new Studio for Polystilistic Improvisation and Interdisciplinary Crossover (SPIIC). He has been a visiting artist and lecturer and has held workshops on Improvisation at international academic institutions.

https://www.vlatkokucan.de/