European Music Festival 2008

Hanoi:

25 Nov-07 Dec
all concerts: 8pm

Youth Theater
11 Ngô Thì Nhậm

in HCMC:

02-07 Dec
all concerts: 8pm

HCMC Conservatory of Music Concert Hall
112 Nguyen Du St., Dist. 1, HCMC

Click on the image above for a larger version.

Teichmann Brothers – Germany

Hanoi – Tues 25 Nov 2008
HCMC – the Teichmann Brothers will also perform in HCMC. Details here.

When the brothers Teichmann, Andi and Hannes start mixing, they pass the beats back and forth like a basketball, playing with various influences from Acid to Chicago, Techno, Rock und House. The fun they have experimenting and building beats is palpable in their sets. With roots in the punk and indie scenes they found a home in Minimal Techno, for which they have built a solid platform at Festplatten, a label founded in 1999. But other projects as well, like the internationally successful Formation BeigeGT , their work as DJs, and their first album have all contributed to their status as important representatives of German electro-culture.

Gui.tar – Italy
Electronic Music

Hanoi – Tues 25 Nov 2008

Italian musician Alessandro Tartari has been working in Germany for many years. In 2003 he met in Berlin French musician Jules Etienne and they started making music together. They make electronic dance music aiming to transcend genre limitations, tracing paths through tech-house, funk and soul. Their classical musical background and their Mediterranean origins allow them to bring on the dance floor lot of melody, deep chords, warm singing and wide emotional sound-scapes.

Their first release Homeopathic delight appeared in 2005 on Careless Records. The EPs Push in the Bush (Less 004), Automne à Pékin (Punkt 027) and Deserve It (Less009) followed. Many of their tracks have also been included in Compilations and Mix-CDs such as Ewan Pearson’s Fabric Mix (Fabric 35), Steve Bug’s Fabric Mix (Fabric 37) and the Junior Boys’ Body Language.

“There is an effel there” – Wallonia-Brussels
Jazz Trio

Hanoi – Thurs 27 Nov 2008
HCMC -Wed 03 Dec 2008

Françoise Derissen: violin, viola and compositions/
Carla Van Effeltaire: piano and compositions
Renaud Lhoest: arrangements
With the participation of Vietnamese artists:
Quyền Thiện Đắc: saxophonist
Lê Quốc Hưng: percussionist

Françoise Derissen (violin) and Carla Van Effeltaire (piano), who have written all compositions on this CD, enjoy mixing styles, influences and rhythms. Their own personal style has its roots in their common classical music training. Their project? A poem, a tribute, an urge to move, a story directly inspired by life. Plus some tricky technical challenges : five-beat bars, 14- or 42-bar pieces, contrapuntal playing… But above all, punchy sounds and melodies that groove! A music simply made for the fun of playing, sharing and being together.

Chara Iacovidou – Greece
Pianist

Hanoi -Fri 28 Nov 2008

She made brilliant music studies first at the Greek National Conservatory, then – as a recepient of a scholarship of the Athens Academy – at the Ecole Normale de Musique and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, and then in America, at the USC School of Music where she graduated with a Master’s of Music with Highest Honours. In addition to music, she also studied Literature at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Chara Iacovidou’s major teachers include Marie-Françoise Bucquet, Leon Fleischer, John Perry and Jean-Claude Pennetier.
Over the last years she worked under the guidance of the famous pianist Alfred Brendel, who has been the most decisive encounter in her musical life.
Highly praised by the Los Angeles Times for her “fluid, clearly etched and deeply sensitive playing” this recepient of the NATIXIS Foundation Award in Paris received excellent reviews on her Schubert/Ravel recording of the Valses Nobles et Valses Sentimentales released in France by Lyrinx/Harmonia Mundi.
Chara Iacovidou regularly performs as a soloist and as a chamber musician in European cities such as Paris, Geneva, Athens, Prague, Brussels, Lyon, Monte-Carlo, Torino, Weimar, as well as in the United States of America, where she made her New York Debut in 2001 at Weill Carnegie Hall.
She participates in many International European Music Festivals. She has performed as a soloist with the Greek National Orchestra, the Kamerata Orchestra of Athens, the Orchestre Philarmonique de Nice, the Orchestre Symphonique d’Orléans, the USC Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles.
Chara Iacovidou has a repertoire ranging from the Baroque Period to the dawn of the twenty-first century, with a special affection for Schubert and the Viennese Classicism. Her interest in contemporary music leads her to participate in premieres and recordings of new chamber music. She has also extensively performed works by Greek composer Nikos Skalkottas, one of Shoenberg’s favorite pupils.

Jeff Herr Quartet – Luxembourg

Hanoi – Sat 29 Nov 2008
HCMC – Tues 02 Dec 2008

Carlo Nardozza: Trumpet
Joonas Lorenz: Fender Rhodes, Synthesizers
Tom Van Acker: Bass
Jeff Herr: Drums

The Jeff Herr Corporation was formed in December 2003 in Maastricht by the Luxemburgish drummer Jeff Herr (*1980), assembling some of the best young upcoming musicians from the region. Formally known as the “Jeff Herr Funk Corporation » (performances at the “ Jazz Rallye Luxemburg ”, “ Arts à Beaufort “, “ Festival de Clervaux “…), the band got a new identity, being reduced to a 4tet and, what is most important, playing a repertoire that mainly consists of original compositions by Jeff Herr and the rest of the band. The art of improvisation is their collective aim and leads them to new experiments with Jazz, fusioning the Jazz harmonies with modern grooves and sounds. Long and wild experimental solos, but also clear-structured and arranged songs belong to the band’s repertoire. The style of the band could be described as Fusion or Electric-Funk Jazz, the attitude and the approach of the band’s music is “Jazz”, played with the help of electronics and effects, using today’s grooves and beats.
During the years, the band has toured a lot of different countries (Benelux, Germany, France, Romania..) and performed on prestigious festivals.
Carlo Nardozza (*1982) is the upcoming trumpet player from the Belgium, where he plays in different band settings, from small combo to Big Band. He is also known for his Carlo Nardozza Quintet in which Tom Van Acker (*1978) plays Bass. Joonas Lorenz (*1978) is an experimenting Rhodes and Synthesizer player, who integrates today’s sounds and samples in his play and who is also active in writing and performing electronic music.

Halferty/Guilfoyle Trio – Ireland

Hanoi – Sun 30 Nov 2008
HCMC – Thurs 04 Dec 2008

Tommy Halferty: Guitar
Ronan Guilfoyle: Bass
Conor Guilfoyle: Drums

The evergreen Halferty is from Derry, that most musical of Irish cities and since the late 70s, he’s been an irrepressible voice, always lyrical and animated, and a formative influence for many Irish jazz musicians. Among them are bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and drummer Conor Guilfoyle, who join the spirited improviser here for a typically eclectic programme of standards, contemporary originals, and freshly minted arrangements of Irish traditional melodies. They’re the ideal foil for Halferty’s passionate and agile guitar style

Individually Tommy Halferty, Ronan Guilfoyle and Conor Guilfoyle are among the leading contemporary jazz musicians in Ireland, all with an international reputation both as instrumentalists and as innovators. They have been playing together as a trio for over 20 years, developing the music of the trio collectively and expanding the horizons of the classic guitar trio format.

Tineke Postma Group – Netherlands

Hanoi -Thurs 04 Dec 2008
HCMC – Sat 06 Dec 2008

www.tinekepostma.com

Tineke Postma: saxophone and compositions
Rob van Bavel: piano
Clemens van der Feen: bass
Chris Strik: drums

The Tineke Postma Group has since 2003 performed at various events such as the North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Yokohama Jazz Festival (Japan), Java Jazz Festival (Indonesia) and the Middelheim Festival (Belgium). The quartet plays compositions and arrangements of jazz standards by Tineke Postma, which can be characterized as experimental yet accessible modern jazz. Postma is praised by many for her melodic playing and the energetic interplay between the members of her group.

Tineke Postma (1978) graduated with honours from the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where she now teaches. She was awarded two scholarships to study at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she studied with Dick Oatts, David Liebman and Chris Potter. In 2006, she received the prestigious French “MIDEM International Jazz Revelation of the Year 2006” award (Victoires du Jazz). She tours regularly with American musicians such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dianne Reeves, Esperanza Spalding and Geri Allen. In 2005 she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Since 2003, Tineke Postma released three CDs and a DVD. She will record her new CD in February 2009 in New York. Her third CD “A Journey That Matters” (2007) was well received internationally; “The Evening Standard” (UK) called her “one of the leading ladies in jazz!”

Javier Galiana & Spice Berberechos – Spain

Hanoi -Fri 05 Dec 2008
HCMC – Sun 07 Dec 2008

Javier Galiana: piano
Paco Weht: double bass
Daniel Domínguez: drums
Albert Cirera: saxophone
Carlos Cortés: flamenco percussion and singing

Flamenco and jazz hybrid made in Barcelona and leaded by the pianist from Cádiz Javier Galiana, the first Spanish piano-jazz graduate and Manu Chao’s regular keyboardist.

They present their first record ‘Werther en Nueva York’ (Fonoruz, 2007): jazz written as if it was flamenco by Galiana himself. The band is well-balanced: Dani Domínguez playing the drums, the Argentinean Paco Weht at the double bass, Albert Cirera, one of the prominent saxos of the new batch of Catalan musicians, and Carlos Cortés, who reinforces the flamenco spirit with the flamenco percussion and singing.

They have played at the Budapest Jazz Festival, Terrassa Jazz Festival, Cádiz Internacional Jazz Festival, Ciutat Vella Flamenco Festival, Mercat de Música Viva de Vic, Fira al Carrer de Vila-Seca and the most important stages of Barcelona and Cádiz.

Roland Tchakounté – Franc

Hanoi -Sat 06 Dec 2008

Roland Tchakounté: Guitar and Singer
Mick Ravassat: Guitar
Mathias Bernheim: Percussion

A distinctive and appealing artist, he will constantly keep you off-balance while embarking on a musical journey, connecting the blues of Africa and America with his various melodic influences.

Born in Cameroon, far from the cotton fields that shaped his elders’ style, Roland Tchakounté started his musical career by recording 2 LPs in Douala’s studios before leaving for France.

A freedom advocate, this singer and guitar player took a few years before recording his first European album: “ ‘Bred Bouh Shuga Blues”, a musical collaboration in which he was already singing in Bamiléké, his native tongue.

Although having learnt his trade through Afro-American beats, Roland Tchakounté always toyed with more traditional ones: deep and raw tempos with no academic structures, vessels to a sadness expressed through savage melodies.

Kept secret for years, his passion finally came to light when Roland discovered two mythical composers: John Lee Hooker and Ali Farka Touré. Unlike some aspiring Blues player, so keen on mimicking their idols that they lose their own identity in the process, Roland Tchakounté tells his own story and gets his inspiration from American and African music legacies, merging them with tremendous wit.

Along with his partners Mick Ravassat (guitar) and Mathias Bernheim (percussion), he has already carried his Blues World gospel throughout Europe (Germany, Belgium, Spain…) and around the globe (Japan, Canada, USA…). As it was already the case in Chicago and Memphis, Roland was invited to perform this year at other international festivals in Burkina Faso, Guinea, the Republic of Mali, but also Indonesia, Vietnam, Scotland, Croatia, etc.

MICK RAVASSAT (Guitar)

Roland Tchakounté’s partner since 2003, he has his own band in France : Mick Ravassat & The Blue Team, and was part of The Reverend Blues Gang in 2004/2005. He loves to play all styles (even Pop), provided he may express what he likes most: Blues sounds…

MATHIAS BERNHEIM (Percussions)

He starts the ‘trade’ in clubs and, in particular, in the famous Parisian cabaret ‘Les Trois Maillets’, where he plays for Brazilian, Senegalese, Madagascan, Portuguese, Turkish, Yugoslavian, Russian, Cubans singers, but also for bands such as ‘Taxi Luna’ (Balkans), ‘Zeph’ (Afro-pop), ‘Niyya’ (French-Moroccan Sufi music), Madjid Ziouane, French Gospel Voices, Booga Stuff.
Today, he is Roland Tchakounté Trio’s drummer/percussionist.

Monika Stadler – Austria
Harpist

Hanoi: Sun 07 Dec 2008

www.harp.at

Monika Stadler started studying the harp at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and under Annemarie Zangerle (Salzburg) when she was 13. At the age of 15, she went to the Music Grammar School in Linz. From 1982 to 1990 she studied concert harp at the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna under Prof. Adelheid Blovsky-Miller.

During her studies she was a member of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, participated in a number of productions at the Vienna State Opera, and was a member of the ensemble during the Carinthian Summer Festival. In 1990 she graduated with honours. Then she received a scholarship to study jazz under Dejan Pecenko at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz from 1991 to 1992.

As it was not possible to study jazz harp in Europe, she went to America after being awarded further scholarships. There she studied under Deborah Henson-Conant (jazz harp), David Clark (bass) at the Berklee College of Music in Boston (Massachusetts), and under David Darling (free improvisation).

Monika Stadler now lives in Vienna. Apart from giving international concerts, she also holds workshops for improvisation and jazz in Europe and America.

Awards
First prize ORF Talent Show Velden, Austria (1992)
Second prize Lyon & Healy Jazz & Pop Harpfest Chicago, USA (1993)
Second prize Lyon & Healy Jazz & Pop Harpfest Orlando, USA (1994)

She not only brings a fresh sound to the harp, through elements from folk, world classical and jazz music, but also arouses the feelings and emotions of her audience.