Romen / Fagaschinski / Schneider

Here Comes The Sun

Label: Mikroton Recordings Country: Russia

"Barbara Romen und Gunter Schneider started their professional collaboration in 1990, from that year on they have been married, too. From the beginning, contemporary music has been the central aim of their work. Excursions led to baroque sonatas for salterio (Hackbrett, beaten dulcimer) and basso continuo. Aside of main repertoire works for guitar duo (Lachenmann, Kubo, but as well Brouwer and Gnattali) a lot of works were specially composed for them, by composers like Klaus Ager, Gerold Amann, Martin Daske, Fernando Grillo, Radu Malfatti, and Burkhard Stangl. Besides, they have been developing music of their own, both for "dulcimer à due" (performed on one traditional Tyrolean diatonic dulcimer), and for chromatic tenor-dulcimer and various guitars. The cd "Traditional Alpine Music from the 22nd Century" was released in 2007.

Together they worked in different projects, a.o. "here comes the sun" with Berlin based clarinet multiphoner Kai Fagaschinski, music for dance (e.g. with Japanese choreographer and dancer Saburo Teshigawara), music for radio plays, various improvisation groups, among others "harsch" with Burkhard Stangl and Christof Kurzmann, together with Japanese musicians Sugimoto Taku, Akiyama Tetuzi, and Unami Taku, a project with stone sculptures by Tyrolean sculptor Kassian Erhart, named "tracking stones' voices" (ORF-SACD), and "klopfzeichen/klangschnitte" with Japanese and Austrian printmakers and musicians. They are probably best known for their interpretation of Lachenmann's "Salut fuer Caudwell" (cd durian 018-2, booklet on the internet)), which they as well have been touring in a music theatre project conceived by coreographer Xavier Le Roy since 2005 ("Mouvements for Lachenmann" and "More Mouvements for Lachenmann"). In 2009 the formed the experimental house music project "quadrat:sch" together with composer and looped-zither virtuoso Christof Dienz and his wife, double bass player Alexandra Dienz."-sp-ce.net

"The Berlin-based clarinetist and composer/performer focuses on a subtle musicality of sound and noise phenomena. As an autodidact he has developed an anomalous language on his instrument. His music is rooted in abstractness, including increasingly an insidious expressivity and a pre-melodic quality. He works on the borderline of composition and improvisation, with a preference for long-term collaborations.

His projects are the international nothing - clarinet duo with Michael Thieke, los glissandinos with Klaus Filip, The Magic I.D. - song project with Margareth Kammerer, Christof Kurzmann & Michael Thieke, duo with Burkhard Stangl, The Dogmatics with Chris Abrahams, Kommando Raumschiff Zitrone with Christof Kurzmann, duo with Bernhard Gal, Rebecca with Michael Renkel, no furniture with Boris Baltschun and Axel Dörner, and (exceptionally) solo.

Kai has been the commander of raumschiff zitrone from 2000 to 2006, joined by Christof Kurzmann in 2002. Recently both commanders have been retired and closed the legendary Raumschiff Zitrone which has presented concerts of countless international artists. In 2001 he co-initiated together with Gregor Hotz and Conrad Noack Berlin's experimental music platform www.Echtzeitmusik.De.

Kai was artist-in-residense at quartier21 (part of museumsquartierwien, Vienna) in 2004. As a result of fruitful collaborations and good friendships Vienna feels like a second home for him."-kylie.klingt.org