Dear friends of improvised music,
The year 2025 closed with sad news:
Hans Falb, creator of the groundbreaking Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf, tireless advocate of jazz and improvised music, and a dear friend, passed away on 26 December. His work will endure. Further information can be found on the website www.konfrontationen.at.
Offene Ohren e.V. is entering its unbelievable 22nd year.
Ongoing structural support from the Kulturreferat München and the prize money of the APPLAUS Award, with which Offene Ohren e.V. was honoured last autumn by the Minister of State for Culture, are the two financial cornerstones, which enable us once again to present a wide-ranging international programme in this season. Especially in these difficult times for cultural events, this is by no means a given – and we are deeply grateful for it.
Here you can download an overview of dates (in German) for the first half of the year: Konzerte_HJ1.pdf
Open Ears!
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Otomo Yoshihide, turntables [Japan]
Tom Malmendier, drums [B]
Emilie Škrijelj, turntables [F]
Everything makes sound, everything makes noise and the spectacle is fascinating. But make no mistake, the show is captivating because above all it is flawlessly musical. Never any repetition, the vocabulary is certainly not common but from the scratching, scraping, tearing, supplemented by the omnipresence of a drums which always moves forward, emerges an imperturbable energy with the deep pulsation which beats at the heartbeat, that of the musicians and the audience.
Les Marquises is a french-belgian duo of free improv music created by Émilie Škrijelj and Tom Malmendier in 2019. Two voices breathe together, exchange, scramble and curl up like a twining plant. A dance on the embers, ardent Marquises.
Otomo Yoshihide complements this duo with uncanny confidence, bringing in the Japanese element of structured noise. He was already our guest in 2023 as part of a trio with Masahiko Satoh and Roger Turner. Now he focuses on his second main instrument besides the electric guitar: two turntables, a mixing console, and electronics are his contribution to what is likely to become one of the most intense sonic experiences in the MUG.
Location: MUG – Munich Underground at Einstein Kultur
Entrance fee: 20 Euro, members of Offene Ohren e.V. 15 Euro, free admission up to 21 years (inclusive)
The box office opens at approximately 7:30 p.m.
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Carl Ludwig Hübsch, tuba, voice [D]
Phil Minton, voice, trumpet [GB]
Metal Breath – that pretty much says it all.
Breath – as a pure vocal sound generator, or as a human sound generator channeled through (metallic) tuba/trumpet – is the very center of this duo performance embracing two generations.
Phil Minton and Carl Ludwig Hübsch jointly immerse themselves in uncharted sonic territory. Unconditional trust is the basis of their interactions. The stage is open to the subtle, the wild, the exciting, the magical – and to the ears of the listeners. Uncompromising, playful music somewhere far beyond the familiar.
Phil Minton is a singer of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation who began his career as a jazz trumpeter. As a vocalist, he has been considered a major figure in the free improvisation scene for decades, known for his "sheerly incredible and uncanny sounds, for which there is nothing comparable anywhere" [Bert Noglik, German quotation as cited via Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Minton; English translation]
Carl Ludwig Hübsch: “My playing deals with music as a form that emerges in time. The focus is on this very moment of emergence. The dramaturgy or structure of the music is subject to constant change; it develops organically. For this reason, I try above all not to become an obstacle.
The use of modern and self-developed playing techniques goes far beyond the usual tuba sound cliché. An innovative soundscape unfolds, the tuba is presented from a new perspective. The audience?… hears itself listening.” [English translation of the text at https://huebsch.me]
Location: MUG – Munich Underground at Einstein Kultur
Entrance fee: 20 Euro, members of Offene Ohren e.V. 15 Euro, free admission up to 21 years (inclusive)
The box office opens at approximately 7:30 p.m.
Elisabeth Harnik, piano [A]
Dave Rempis, saxophones [USA]
Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello [USA]
Tim Daisy, drums [USA]
Ab Baars, clarinet, tenor saxophone, shakuhachi [NL]
Joost Buis, trombone [NL]
Berlinde Deman, tuba, serpent [B]
Eli Wallace piano [USA]
Pablo Vazquez, bass [Argentinien]
Vasco Trilla, drums [E]
Paul Jarret, guitar [F]
Karin Johansson, piano [S]
Donovan von Martens, bass [S]
Urs Leimgruber, soprano saxophone [CH]
Jacques Demierre, piano, spinet [CH]
Thomas Lehn, analogue synthesizer [D]
Toshimaru Nakamura, no-input mixing board [Japan]
Bryan Eubanks, saxophone, electronics [USA/D]
Gert-Jan Prins, percussion, electronics [NL]
Tetuzi Akiyama, guitar [Japan]
Tatsuya Yoshida, drums [Japan]
Risa Takeda, piano, synthesizer [Japan]
Camila Nebbia, saxophone [Argentinien/D]
Chris Corsano, drums [USA]
Izumi Kimura, piano [Japan/CH]
Barry Guy, bass [GB/CH]
Gerry Hemingway, drums [USA/CH]
The friends of improvised music of the Offene Ohren e.V. would like to thank the Kulturreferat München for its continuous help allowing to present improvised music in Munich.