Goethe – Frank Wolff – Around the world with a cello

Concert
Sat 15 Nov, 8pm

For over 50 years Frank Wolff has traveled with his cello, not only throughout the world, but also through many epochs of musical history, from Johann Sebastian Bach through the European Classical and Romantic periods to Jimi Hendrix and John Cage.

In the process he has also developed his own poetic tonal palette with the cello, which at times is related to Asian tones. His solo program tells of his varied experiences and is as much a journey through time as it is a trip around the world. The sounds are transformed, old music sounds like something new, or a new tone as if it is from an older time. The musical itinerary moves from Europe to America and Asia and also touches down in Vietnam, where Frank Wolff previously performed in 1996.

Biographical Notes

Born in 1945 shortly after the war and christened by his father, a recently-released POW, with the hope-filled names Frank und Friedrich – free and peaceful!

Frank Wolff has played cello since his childhood in rural Hessen, Germany. He studied music in Freiburg, then philosophy with Adorno in Frankfurt. In 1967 he dedicated himself to the student revolution and became its spokesperson in West Germany. Further cello studies followed, and membership in an avant-garde ensemble and a Berlin string quartet. With his return to Frankfurt in ‘Deutsche Herbst’ 1977, Frank Wolff developed his first ‘concert collages’: “Franks tönende Wochenschau”, which also included his “Deutschlandlied”, dedicated to Jimi Hendrix and Joseph Haydn, then “Schubert doesn’t live here anymore” and “Winterreise Frühlingstraum”.

In 1991 he founded the Frankfurter Kurorchester. In 1997 came his world tour with Anne Bärenz and “Heinrich Heine in Concert”, as well as several duo projects. The programs “Attacca” and “Shanghai-Show” were created from 2002 with young artists in the Neuen Frankfurter Schulorchester. In addition, for many years in various solo projects with new sounds and overtone techniques Frank Wolff has developed poetic tone paintings such as “Mein blaues Cello”, “Frisch gestrichen” and “Frank & Frei”.

FRANK WOLFF has appeared al over the world with the unforgettable Anne Bärenz and the former Frankfurter Kurorchester. In April 2008 he played the Extra-Program SO KLINGT FRANKFURT in the Chinese partner city Kanton with musicians from Africa, Brazil, the USA and China, all living in Frankfurt.