Navigation

Wood Hall, Victoria Conservatory of Music
907 Pandora Ave.
November 25, 2007, Workshop: 5pm, Concert: 8pm
$10/$12

Open Space and the Victoria Conservatory of Music presents the Trio Kaufmann / Gratkowski / de Joode in a concert of Improvised Chamber Music Sunday, November 25 at 8 pm at Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Wood Hall.  The trio also offers a workshop for musicians at 5 pm the same day.

                          Photo: Goran Potkonjak

Pianist Achim Kaufmann, sax and clarinet player Frank Gratkowski and bassist Wilbert de Joode formed their improvising chamber trio in 2002 in Amsterdam.  They have toured throughout Europe and released three critically acclaimed CD’s, kwast, unearth and palaé.   

After five years and dozens of concerts, the music of Trio Kaufmann / Gratkowski / de Joode has reached a new level of intensity and radicalism, and a heightened perception of group counterpoint. There is a seamless continuity in the trio’s improvisations, and a rare balance in its interactions that reflects Kaufmann’s and Gratkowski’s backgrounds as composers. Both studied at the Conservatory of Music in Cologne. The group embodies intense energy, and at the same time subtlety, transparency and a shared attention to sonic detail, including unpredictable discursive strategies and virtuosic timbral explorations.

Critics have called this trio’s music as full of “substance, drama, sensitivity and virtuosity’, and a demonstration of “the kind of close listening needed to create a unified collective sound”.  

Pianist/composer Achim Kaufmann is based in Amsterdam and has played and/or recorded with musicians such as Han Bennink, Michael Moore, Jim Black, Mark Helias, Tristan Honsinger, Lê Quan Ninh, Wolter Wierbos and Paul Lovens. He also performs solo.    

Composer/multi-reedist Frank Gratkowski leads a quartet with Wolter Wierbos, Dieter Manderscheid, and Gerry Hemingway. He recently performed at various festivals with
his Double Quartet and has worked with Georg Graewe, Joëlle Léandre, Hamid Drake,
Peter Kowald, Misha Mengelberg, and many more. Both Gratkowski and Kaufmann have received the renowned German SWR award.

Wilbert de Joode is currently one of the most sought-after bassists in the world of contemporary jazz and improvised music. He is a member of the Ab Baars Trio, the trio Fuhler-Bennink-de Joode, Apa Ini, various groups led by Michiel Braam, and has played with Steve Lacy, Fred Frith, Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Sunny Murray, The Ex, Schlippenbach Trio, and many others.

WORKSHOP Sunday November 25, 5 pm, Victoria Conservatory of Music Wood Hall Tickets $5

Kaufmann / Gratkowski / de Joode will host a workshop Sunday November 25 at 5 pm, preceding the 8 pm concert. Musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments to discover and practice ideas behind group improvisation, group counterpoint, and individual instrumental techniques, including extended techniques.  The trio members will discuss and demonstrate playing at different speeds, creating layers, playing with and against each other, working with individual and group textures, and others aspects of improvisation practice.  This workshop is a rare chance to work with master improvisers from the European school.

www.achimkaufmann.com
www.gratkowski.com
http://www.doek.org/wDeJoode.html