Music

19|11|07 // 20.00 // ZKO HAUS // in cooperation with IGNM Basel

PORTRAITKONZERT STEFAN NICULESCU
Ensemble Profil

19.00 // concert introduction with Valentina Sandu-Dediu and Stefan Niculescu

Ştefan Niculescu (*1927), who has received many prizes as a composer, musicologist and educator, studied in the 1940's with the most important Rumanian musical fi gures of the period. In the 1960's he participated in the vacation courses in Darmstadt, held by Ligeti and Stockhausen; in Munich he studied with Kagel and in the Siemens Studio he became involved with electronic and electro-acoustic music. Today Niculescu is considered one of the most renowned composers for contemporary music in Rumania.

21|11|07 // 20.00 // MUSIKCONTAINER // USTER
HACKBRETT MEETS CYMBALON – MUSIC ACROSS THE BORDER
Nicolas Simion Tenor-, Sopranosax, Bassklarinette, Tarogato
Giani Lincan Cymbalon
Roland Schiltknecht Hackbrett
Peter A. Schmid Bassklarinette, Tarogato

Nicolas Simion was born in 1959 in the Carpathian Mountains and studied classical music in Bucharest. He developed a preference for improvised music and in the early 1980’s he started his first band, which quickly became the most successful jazz formation in the country. Simion’s saxophone playing is powerful and primitive, vibrates with energy and is nonetheless melodic. Béla Bartók has influenced his music, as have the melodies and rhythms of the folk music of his native Rumania. Simion fuses his jazz sound with American bebop, hardbop, funk, and with elements of world music and free improvisation.

21|11|07 // 20.00 // ROTE FABRIK // ZÜRICH

22|11|07 // 20.00 // STADTHAUS GEMEINDERATSSAAL // USTER
TABU SUITE
Trio Contraste

Ion Bogdan Ştefănescu, solo flautist with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra George Enescu, Sorin Petrescu and Doru Roman, piano soloist and first percussionist with the Philharmonic Orchestra Timişoara present established, contemporary music from Rumania. In 1990 these three exceptional musicians,
who perform together as the Trio Contraste were awarded the national prize
of the Rumanian Society of Composers. The trio makes guest appearances at
numerous major festivals.

24|11|07 // 20.00 // KLEINKUNSTBÜHNE QBUS // USTER

25|11|07 // 20.00 // ROTE FABRIK // ZÜRICH
SHUKAR COLLECTIVE

The tones from the Balkans are booming: one of the most daring experiments is the Shukar Collective with the three Roma musicians Napoleon, already well-known from Taraf de Haïdouks, Tamango and Clasic, as its musical core. With husky vocals and staccato shouts of encouragement, combined with the rhythms of archaic instruments such as spoons, shallow hand-held and wooden drums, they keep the music of the Ursari, the bear-taming tribe, alive. This tradition is brought into the here and now by a funky electronic team, including DJ Vasile, admired throughout Europe. The idea behind the Shukar Collective is to re-orchestrate folksy pieces with modern technology and methods, without denying their provenance and originality.

06|12|07 // 20.00 // FREIE KIRCHE USTER
ADVENTSKONZERT
Accoustic Chamber Choir
Daniel Jinga, Dirigent

Singing Christmas carols, the «colinde», is an important component of Rumanian Christmas celebrations. The noun «colindă» (Christmas carol) gave rise to the verb «a colinda», which originally meant to scour a district and ramble about. The colinde are sung out on the streets, on Christmas Eve, in front of people's windows until the singers, often children, are invited into the house and given refreshments. The Accoustic Chamber Choir has gathered the best singers from a number of Rumanian choirs and developed its own profi le over a number of years. During the fi nal concert the Accoustic Chamber Choir will present secular and spiritual music.