Kandinsky

Ensemble Kandinsky is a vibrant new musical collective born in August, 2006, at the Lucerne Festival Academy, during performances at the Lucerne Festival and at the Zug Kunsthaus under their mentor, Pierre Boulez, of Schoenberg’s Serenade, op. 24. The resulting confluence has inspired this truly international ensemble to explore the vast and largely neglected repertoire of Schoenberg’s epoch as well as recent and newly composed works for this most unorthodox instrumentation.

Fabian Hemmelmann (Germany) - Baritone

Gabriela Diaz (USA) - Violin

Chaim Steller (Netherlands) - Viola

Jason Calloway (USA) - Cello

Rane Moore (USA) - Clarinet

Megumi Tabuchi (Japan) - Bass Clarinet

Susanne Herre (Germany) - Mandolin

Emanuele Forni (Italy) - Guitar

Ensemble Kandinsky with Pierre Boulez during the Kandinsky exibition in Zug (CH)

Repertoire

Arnold Schönberg

(1874 – 1951)

Schrammelmusik:

Victor Ullmann

(1898 – 1944)

Kurt Weill

(1900 – 1950)

Friedrich Hollaender

(1896 – 1976)

Johannes Schöllhorn

(1962)

Yori-Aki Matsudaira

(1931)

Jean-Jacques Dünki

(1948)

Faradsch Karajev

(1943)

Fabian Hemmelmann (Baritone) was born in 1977 in Lahnstein, Germany. He has studied with Thomas Quasthoff and Klesie Kelly-Moog in Detmold and Cologne and additionally chamber and contemporary music in Cologne with David Smeyers. Since 1996 he has given recitals of works including Winterreise and Dichterliebe in Limburg/ Lahn, Solingen and Sigmaringen as well as music of Debussy, Ravel, and Martin in Limburg/Lahn and Düsseldorf. More recently, his performances have included Brahms’ Four Late Songs in Sindelfingen, the Italian Songbook of Wolf in Bonn, and Winterreise in Cologne as well as his study with Wolfgang Rihm on his work, Six Poems of Friedrich Nietzsche. His numerous oratorio performances have included St. John’s Passion in Helmstedt, Remscheid, and Cologne; the Christmas Oratorio in Stuttgart, Bremen and Göttingen; the German Requiem in Diez/Lahn and Prüm/Eifel; and his role as Faust in Alfred Schnittke’s Faust-Cantata, conducted by Marcus Creed in Cologne. This fall he made his debut in Elijah in Wuppertal. In 2003 he appeared in Die Eingeborene of Franz Xaver Kroetz with the a.tonal.theatre, awarded with the Cologne Theatre Prize, and in 2004 with the group solarplexus in new works of Moritz Eggert. His notable stage appearances have included the business man in Schapfl’s The Little Prince, at the Philharmonic Hall Cologne, the Beethoven Hall Bonn and the Old Opera Frankfurt/Main; and the title role in Der Herr Gevatter, a co-production of the Düsseldorf conservatory with the Bavarian Theatre Academy Munich and the State Theatre Saarbrücken, composed by students of Manfred Trojahn. Since 2004 he has been a member of the SWR-Vocal Ensemble and Radio Choir Berlin, and since 2005, Klangforum Heidelberg. In 2004, he founded the a capella ensemble enVoc with concerts in Limburg, Köln, München and Stuttgart, and in 2006 the Cologne Vocal Soloists with concerts in Cologne and Leipzig of music of Rihm, Kurtag, Berio and Poulenc and premieres of Peter Bares and Michael Langemann.

Gabriela Diaz (violin) has attended the Aspen Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and has performed at the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and Vail Valley Bravo Music Festival, among others. In 2003 she won the BMOP/New England Conservatory concerto competition, and performed John Zorn's Contes des Fees with the conservatory orchestra. She also became the youngest person to record the Ligeti Violin Concerto, for Mode Records with New England Conservatory's Contemporary Ensemble. Ms. Diaz received her Bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory of Music as a student of James Buswell. At graduation, she was given the John Cage Award for her contribution to new music, and the Chadwick Medal, the highest award bestowed upon undergraduates at NEC. She recently completed her Master’s degree at the same institution.

Chaim Steller (viola), born in 1983 in Amsterdam, started violin lessons at the age of 4. After three years of study with Jan Repko, he switched to the viola and attended the Conservatory of Amsterdam as a student of Marjolein Dispa, graduating Cum Laude in 2004 (Bachelor of Arts). From 2005 he has been a student in Freiburg (Germany) with Wolfram Christ, where he obtained his degree ‘KA’ in January 2007 and where he continues his studies for the ‘Soloist Diploma.’ The winner of numerous competitions in Holland, he was a prizewinner of the 42nd International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen, where he played Hindemith's Der Schwanendreher with orchestra. In Ferrara he played chamber music with the clarinetist Pascal Moragues and also performs regularly with members of the SWR-Orchestra Freiburg. Chaim is deeply commited to playing music from the 20th and 21st centuries, appearing under the batons of Pierre Boulez and Peter Eotvos, amongst others, in addition to his work with Christophe Desjardins and Pierre Strauch of the Ensemble InterContemporain. Together with violist Sarah Darling he worked with composer George Benjamin on his viola duo Viola Viola, which he performed last summer with Susanne van Els, violist of the Schönberg ensemble, on The day of George Benjamin. Chaim currently works regularly with Orchestra Mozart in Bologna, in collaboration with artists including Claudio Abbado, Trevor Pinnock, Giuliano Carmignola.

Jason Calloway (cello) has performed to acclaim throughout North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East as soloist and chamber musician. He has appeared at festivals including Spoleto USA, Darmstadt, Acanthes (France), Perpignan, Valencia, Citta’ della Pieve (Italy), Jerash (Jordan), Casals (Puerto Rico), Blossom, Music Academy of the West, the New York String Seminar. A member of the Naumburg Award-winning Biava Quartet, Mr. Calloway has collaborated in chamber music with members of the Curtis, Juilliard, Miami, and Amernet quartets and appears across the U.S. as a member of In Freundschaft, a duo with trombonist, Steve Parker. He gave his Carnegie Hall recital debut under the auspices of Artists International and has also been heard in New York at Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall, the Museum of Modern Art, the Kosciuszko Foundation, the 92nd Street Y, and the Polish Consulate; in Los Angeles at Disney Hall, the Bing Theatre, the Skirball Center and Pepperdine University; in San Francisco at Hoover Auditorium; in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music and thEthical Society; and live on WQXR (NYC), KMZT (Los Angeles), WFLN (Philadelphia), and on RAI television (Italy).

Hailed by the Boston Phoenix as "phenomenal," clarinetist Rane Moore performs regularly on the East Coast and abroad. An enthusiastic interpreter of contemporary repertoire, she has given numerous premieres of new works and appeared with groups such as the Callithumpian Consort, the Firebird Ensemble, the Fifth Tier New Music Ensemble, and the Talea Ensemble. Her recent performance with Boston Musica Viva was called a "tour-de-force" by the Boston Globe. As an orchestral musician Rane has performed with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Owensboro Symphony in Kentucky, and the New England Philharmonic. Moore has been featured as a guest artist at the Royal College of Music and Drama in Wales and for the last three years has worked closely with Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. She holds degrees from Indiana University, Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Megumi Tabuchi (clarinet) holds degrees from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (Master of music) and Geneva Conservatory (Concert Diploma). She performed at the Martha Argerich Festival (2002) and Seiji Ozawa Opera Project (2003, 2006) and has collaborated with numerous chamber music ensembles and orchestras including Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre de Chambre de Geneve, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. She performs as a member of Ensemble Bois, based in Tokyo, which collaborates with many Japanese composers, and as a member of Rainbow Quintet, with which she gives music performances for children. In 2007, she began studying the bass clarinet with Ernesto Molinari as well as music theater with Georges Aperghis and Françoise Rivalland in Hochschule der Künste Bern.

Susanne Herre (mandolin) studies at the Cologne University of Music with Caterina Lichtenberg. In addition, she studies lute with Konrad Junghänel and viola da gamba with Rainer Zipperling as subsidiary subjects. Among her numerous awards are first prize in the competition Jugend musiziert in 2000 and 2002, and special prizes from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, as well as the ZONTA award for the best interpretation of contemporary music. In 2006 she was awarded the first prize of the international competition TIM in Rome. Since February, 2004 she has been the recipient of a scholarship from the foundation Yehudi Menuhin Frankfurt and in 2005 she was awarded a scholarship for the Zermatt Festival (Switzerland) which includes a chamber music academy with musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. As a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra she took part in the summer tours of 2004 and 2005 conducted by Bernhard Haitink and Yan Pascal Tortelier. She regularly gives solo recitals and creates new projects for combinations including mandolin, flute and cello; mandolin and bassoon; or mandolin and harp. Besides these activities she teaches at the music school Erfurt as well as at the plucked string orchestra of Thuringia.

Emanuele Edoardo Forni (Guitar) He obtained his diploma in guitar and jazz harmony and in classical guitar and contemporary music (Concert Diploma) at the High School of Arts in Bern with Elena Casoli. He has studied ancient music and various plucked istruments at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis. As an interpreter of new works, for and with guitar and lute, he has been priveleged to work with many contemporary composers, including Georges Aperghis, Peter Eötvös, Maurizio Pisati, Alessandro Solbiati and Giorgio Tedde. Regularly in contact with various artists, he has collaborated with orchestras (Venice Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra Cantelli of Milan), with conductors (Pierre Boulez, Jean Deroyer, Peter Eötvös, Andrea Marcon), with actors (Ottavia Piccolo), with classical soloists (Guido de Flaviis, Artur Stefanowicz, Hillary Summers, Akiko Suwanai), with world music ensembles (Quintetto de Tango Invisibile) and with early music ensembles (Accademia degli Orfei, Accademia della Selva). He has performed as soloist and in chamber ensembles and orchestras at numerous festivals and institutions, among which are Schwetzinger Festspiele, Concert Hall Mito Art Tower Japan, ZKO - Haus Zürich, Stagione Concertistica dello Spazio Antologico Milan, Grosee Saal HKB Bern, Konzert Saal Philarmonie Essen, Kurhaus Baden, Stadtgarten Winterthur, and Unicef Milan. He has also recorded for various broadcasting channels (RAI, SWR, DRS 2, Radio Classica).

To contact the Ensemble in USA

Jason Calloway