LAUREN NEWTON - voice

Born in Coos Bay, Oregon, U.S.A. She received the Bachelor of Music degree in 1975 from the University of Oregon and in 1977 a degree in Vocal Performance from the School of Music in Stuttgart, Germany.

She has performed 20th century music as well as works written especially for her by composers A. Hölszky, B.Konrad, W.Dauner,H.J.Hespos, H.Zerbe and others. She was singer with the "Vienna Art Orchestra" from 1979 to 1990(20 LP/CDs). Her first solo LP "Timbre" received the annual German Critics Award in 1983 and was again released in´98 as a CD under the title "Filigree". Tours and CD recordings with Vocal Summit with B.McFerrin, J. Lee, J.Clayton and U. Dudziak. She composed music for the Freiburg Theater in Germany, and Burg Theater in Vienna, Austria, for radio-plays (german, swiss and austrian radios) and for film, acting and singing in all of these as well. She performed with austrian poet Ernst Jandl from 1983 until 1999. Since 1990 she performs with the vocal quartet "Timbre", since 1995 with Joëlle Léandre(b), Fritz Hauser (dr), Urs Leimgruber(s), and Heiri Känzig,(b). Diverse music projects, concerts, radio and cd recordings with Jon Rose (v/comp), Hannes Zerbe (p/comp), Patrick Scheyder (p), Vladimir Tarasov (dr), Joachim Kuehn(p), Aki Takase(p), Anthony Braxton (sax/fl/comp) and the European Chaos String Quintet as well as performances with artist, Koho Mori. She has done commissioned works, radio plays and has sung as soloist in performance art projects as well as in collaboration with various dancers.

Since 1974 she travels extensively with different groups performing at most of the reknowned music festivals in Europe, Russia, USA, Canada and parts of Africa. Since 1982 she continues to sing in Japan in concerts and recordings with different japanese artists. She lives in Germany since 1974.

Lauren Newton was honored with the Special Prize of the Baden-Württemberg Jazz Prize for her life's work in 2020. 

The Albert Mangelsdorff Prize 2025 goes to an artist who has pursued an artistic path with exceptional consistency, one that no one before her has taken, and who, with the consistency of her attitude, has inspired and repeatedly encouraged numerous musicians. Lauren Newton is a fixed star in improvised music, an (ideal) all-round musician who is everything at once: composer and performer, creator and improviser, singer and instrumentalist of her voice, demolition expert of dull clichés and builder of a new world of sound and deep, human communication. 

www.laurennewton.com 

JOËLLE LÉANDRE - double bass

Joëlle Léandre is a famous French Bassist and is known for her collaborations with other musicians in the field of improvised music. Born in France on September 12th, 1951, she made her music debut in 1984 with Les Douze Sons. Her childhood was filled with music, and she was particularly interested in the piano during her early years. In her later years, she developed an interest in double bass, which won her many honors and scholarships during her education. Her double bass teacher Pierre Delescluse encouraged her to apply to the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where she was formally trained and noticed for her talent in the bass. Her outstanding musicianship took her to the United States and to the Centre for Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo through a scholarship. In the United States, she expanded her network and met some of the best composers, such as John Cage, Giacinto Scelsi, and Morton Feldman. Among them, John Cage greatly influenced her music and compositions. Her time in the United States also enabled her to experience downtown New York music, which was another significant influence that led to her continued involvement in the field of improvised music.
Some of her notable collaborations in the field of contemporary music are with Pierre Boulez, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Giacinto Scelsi. Among them, John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi were the biggest influences in her life and music. In an interview, Joëlle Léandre said that John Cage was her spiritual father and changed her perception of sound and music. In another interview, she tells how Giacinto Scelsi allowed her to discover her own music and how his music transported her into a new world of improved consciousness. In the field of jazz music, she collaborated with Derek Bailey, William Parker, and Sebi Tramontana. Her music was owned and distributed by different music labels, including FMP, Leo, RougueArt, and Red Toucan. Some memorable songs and albums she released throughout the years include Instant Replay, Les Douze sons, Trios, Sweet Zee, Frerebet, Joelle et Tetsu, Philippe Fenelon, Voyages, etc. 

Joëlle Léandre is also the member of European Women’s Improvising Group (EWIG). The group evolved from the Feminist Improvising Group, and Joëlle Léandre joined the group in 1983. In the early 1900s, she co-founded Les Diaboliques with Irene Schweizer and Maggie Nicols, who were her long-time musician friends. Besides that, she also teaches several classes in prestigious universities about contemporary and improvised music. She has lived in France, Germany, and U.S during her lifetime, teaching at academic institutions in the religions and playing concerts.

Joëlle Léandre served as the Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition and Improvisation at Mills College in Oakland, California, during the years 2002, 2004, and 2006. She is a laureate of the Villa Medici ‘fuori-i-muri’ (1981), the DAAD of Berlin (1990) and the Villa Kujoyama of Kyoto (1998). Joëlle Léandre was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Vision Festival in New York City, an event that celebrated the first fifty years of her international career.

photo: Miha Vipotnik

MARK NAUSEEF - percussion

Percussionist Mark Nauseef has performed and/or recorded for more than fifty years in an unusually wide variety of musical situations with many leading musicians of various genres from around the world such as, among others, Jack Bruce, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, L.Shankar, Hamza El Din, Lou Harrison, Bill Laswell, The Velvet Underground, Kyai Kunbul (Javanese Gamelan), Joachim Kühn, John Zorn, The Ladzekpo Brothers (Ghanaian music and dance), The Gamelan Orchestra of Saba (Balinese Gamelan) and Kudsi Erguner.

Nauseef attended the California Institute Of The Arts (CalArts) where he studied Javanese Gamelan with K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat, Balinese Gamelan with I. Nyoman Wenten, North Indian Pakhawaj drumming with Pandit Taranath Rao, North Indian music theory with Pandit Amiya Dasgupta, Ghanaian drumming and dance with Kobla and Alfred Ladzekpo, Dzidzorgbe Lawluvi and C.K. Ganyo, and 20th Century Western percussion techniques and hand drumming with John Bergamo. Mark also studied frame drum techniques of the Middle East, India and the Caucasus with Glen Velez.

Nauseef has also worked as a producer. In addition to his own recordings, he has produced many records of various types of music including modern experimental forms as well as traditional forms. Traditional music productions include numerous recordings of traditional Balinese and Javanese music such as the acclaimed and award winning “The Music of K.R.T. Wasitodiningrat”, which was recorded in Java and features the compositions of this master Javanese musician. Other examples include Balinese ensemble recordings “Gamelan Batel Wayang Ramayana” and “Gender Wayang Pemarwan”, which were recorded in Bali.

http://www.marknauseef.com

LYDIA KAVINA - theremin

Born in Moscow and currently living in Oxfordshire, UK, Lydia Kavina is one of the leading performing musicians on the theremin. Lydia began studying the theremin at the age of 9 under the direction of Léon Theremin, who was first cousin of her grandfather. Five years later she was ready to give her first theremin concert, which marked the beginning of her musical career that has so far led to thousands of concerts and theatre, radio and television performances of classic and contemporary music, throughout the world. Lydia’s most notable recent works were solo performance in Danny Elfman’s UK concert tour with BBC concert orchestra and London Concert orchestra (2013-2014), as well as the theremin solo in ''The Little Mermaid'', a ballet by Lera Auerbach, choreographed by John Neumeier, in Copenhagen New Opera House, Hamburger Staatsoper and Beijing Tianqiao Theater, (2005-2015). As a solo performer Ms. Kavina appeared at such prestigious venues as the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, London Royal Albert Hall, Chatelet Theatre in Paris, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Caramoor center NY, USA. She collaborated with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra under Reinbert de Lewes, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia under V. Spivakov, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Duesseldorfer Philarmonica and other. Lydia was invited by leading music festivals, including New York's Lincoln Center Festival, the Holland Music Festival, the Martinu Festival in Prague, the Electronic Music Festival in Burge, and Moscow “Avantgarde”. Lydia Lydia acted in the Film "Ich und Kaminski" by Wolfgang Becker, and she played a number of film soundtracks including “Ed Wood”.

Lydia Kavina has also featured in numerous stage productions, such as ''Alice'' and ''The Black Rider'' (both conceived and directed by Robert Wilson, with music by Tom Waits) in the Hamburg Thalia Theater and Halle Kalk in Cologne. She also played for stage productions of Russian Bolshoi, Hamburg Schauspielhaus, Karlsruhe ZKM, Flemisch Opera, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and other. As a theremin enthusiast Lydia constantly seeks to expand the theremin repertoire, frequently performing lesser known music of the 20th century such as “Equatorial” by E. Varese, Obouchov's “Testament” and the graphical scores of Percy Grainger. Kavina’s recent contemporary music project is “Nicht zu fassen”, the duet for theremin and accordion (Roman Yusipey), that includes works of Messiaen, Cage and Gubaidulina. Lydia has written a number of her own compositions, including a Concerto for theremin and symphony orchestra, first performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra, under Gil Rose, in 1997. Ms. Kavina is an active promoter of new experimental music for the theremin. In collaboration with Barbara Buchholz and Kamerensemble Neue Musik Berlin she established “Touch! Don't Touch!” concert project and commissioned 20 modern composers in writing contemporary pieces for the theremin.


Mrs. Kavina’s CDs were released by MODE records and Wergo and include original music for theremin by Bohuslav Martinu, Joseph Schillinger, Howard Shore, Percy Grainger, Misklos Rozsa and otheres. Her video tutorial “Mastering the Theremin”, recorded with Moog Music in1994, is widely used among beginning thereminists.

www.lydiakavina.com

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TAM THI PHAM (VN) - dan bau

is a Vietnamese multimedia composer, improviser and performer living in Hamburg. She completed her Bachelor of Musicology at the Vietnam National Academy of Music, a program in New Compositional Techniques at the University of Music and Theater Hamburg with Prof. Helmut Erdmann and is currently enrolled in Master in Multimedia Composition with Prof. Dr. Georg Hajdu, Prof. Dr. Gordon Kampe and Prof. Dr. Alexander Schubert.

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 instrument). One of her main interests is working with choreographers and dancers both as an improviser and as a composer. One aspect of this made networked music performance a focus of her current works (2020-), with the “2×2 WindowS” project (a collaboration with Japanese dancer Minori Sumiyoshiyama) garnering a lot of attention in Asia (Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia) and her “here&there” project being awarded funding and support from Goethe Institute in Hanoi. Another big interest of Tam Thi Pham lies in microtonal music, which she sees as both an expressive element and a research tool, helping her immerse herself into the rich culture of traditional Vietnamese music and transform it into a new, contemporary language and forms.

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, Indonesia and Serbia. such as: “Hanoi Sound Stuff Festival”, Hanoi, 2014; “Hanoi New Music Festival”, Hanoi, 2013 and 2018; “Beyond Sound” – a series of concerts of experimental music, Heritage space, Hanoi; 2016, 2017 and 2018; “Dance and music camp” with composer Heine Goebbels, Hanoi 2018; “New Music Festival”, Lüneburg, 2016, 2018 – 2021; “Blurred edges” festival, Hamburg, 2019, 2021; “41. International study week for contemporary music”, Hamburg, 2019 ; “next_generation 8.0 and 8.5” festival, Karlsruhe, 2019 and 2021; “Dance fest” Hanoi, 2019; “46.New Music Festival-Portrait Concert: Tam Thi Pham” at HfMT, Hamburg, 2020; Misch Masch festival, NPO Dance Box, Japan 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..., Indonesian Dance festival (2021)

https://tamthipham.com

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CARMEN KLEYKENS VIDAL (ES) - cello

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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JEANNE LAVALLE (FR) - bassoon

Jeanne Lavalle comes from Nice and began studying music at the age of 6. At 7, she entered the classes à horaires aménagés (specialized music classes) and continued there throughout her school years until graduating from high school.
At the age of 17, she joined Laurent Lefèvre's class at the Conservatoire régional de Paris. At the age of 20, she transferred to the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon to study with Carlo Colombo. During her studies at the conservatory, she diversified her artistic and instrumental practice. She learned to play the baroque bassoon alongside Laurent Lechenadec.

She discovered contemporary music at the Côte des Compositeurs and joined the experimental collective bloc, where she was able to explore the unknown aesthetic possibilities of the contrabassoon and bassoon through the use of effects pedals and sound distortion.

A passionate performer, she will have the opportunity to present her piece Salina, in which she brings together baroque music, traditional music, and contemporary dance. She is also active as an orchestral player and is regularly called upon to perform with national opera and symphony orchestras in France.

After completing her master's degree, she enrolled in the concert exam program at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre in Christian Kunert's class. She is also active in the field of jazz and participates in projects for large ensembles and big bands. She crosses musical worlds and joins the SPIIC+ ensemble in Hamburg for improvisation projects.

She is also invested in the social and human dimension of sharing music and participates in original and social projects. She is joining Forces Majeures for a bicycle tour through Germany and is an active member of the Ensemble Hédoné.

photo: Fabian Hammerl

VLATKO KUČAN (DE) - reeds

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. Since 2018 he is the head of the Social Performance, Interdisciplinary Improvisation and Creativity (SPIIC+) project, that is now part of the artistic research lab of the new ligeti center in Hamburg. He has been a visiting artist and lecturer and has held workshops on Improvisation at international academic institutions.

https://www.vlatkokucan.de/