Berlin Solo Impro

This year marks the eight edition of one of the very few music festivals entirely devoted to solo improvisation worldwide. In the city of Berlin - one of Europe’s hotspots not only for experimental music - curator Volker Meitz has succeeded to establish an annual forum for this special and intimate format of musical performance.

The venue, Acker Stadt Palast, is some sort of time bubble. Located in the now posh city centre, it still breathes the atmosphere of the early 1990’s, when the Berlin Wall had just come down: Sustained by a non-profit foundation, it has retained the flair of squat buildings, patina and makeshift culture that was not least a breeding ground to the internationally reknowned Echtzeitmusik scene – protagonists of which have appeared at the festival, too.

On three days, altogether 15 musicians will be performing, stemming from diverse musical universes. Next to drawing on an abundance of artists from the local community which Berlin is famous for, Volker Meitz also invited national and international improvisers, such as vocal artist Marcela Lucatelli (DK), pianist Stefan Schultze (CH), trumpet player Birgit Ulher (Hamburg) or saxophonist Angelika Niescier (Cologne). Other musicians like drummer Maria Portugal (BR), percussion player Evi Filippou (GR) oder pianist Kit Downes (UK) have moved to Berlin only recently.

The evenings will kick off with a short podium discussion by all five musicians, after which they will perform solo for 20 minutes each. As a contrast, the finale features a collective improvisation, with the five artists reacting to one another, while they previously had been alone with themselves and the audience. Hence we get to know different faces of the musicians, which makes for an entertaining and diverse experience.

The line-up spans artists from the “free” ends of jazz, contemporary and electronic music, partly falling under the umbrella term of the aforementioned Echtzeitmusik („real time music“), playing amplified, electronic, or purely acoustic instruments – down to Stefan Schultze using computer controlled hammer action on a grand piano. Thus, we can expect three suspenseful evenings between melodious harmony and experimental noise. There also is some connection to popular music through artists like Dirk Berger, who not only plays guitar with instrumental Hip Hop band Lychee Lassi but also produced albums by famous German Acts Marteria and Peter Fox.