Résumé – Elbtonal Percussion

“Percussion is a craft, and here are four master craftsmen” (Hamburger Abendblatt)
The four precise and unerring Hamburg percussionists master the creative crossover of classical, jazz and world music better than perhaps any other band in the country. With their visually impressive range of instruments – so to speak an aesthetic sound massive of drums, cymbals and gongs from all over the world, harmoniously enriched by marimba and vibraphone – Elbtonal Percussion enthuses its audiences with their exciting dynamism and diversity of style, as already convincingly demonstrated on nine CDs and two DVDs.
The group has performed as guests on many more albums and compilations. Their breath-taking, precise virtuoso “sound scenarios that shine in new colours again and again” (Hamburger Morgenpost), transform the concert venue into a unique adventure space. Sometimes we are surrounded by something that almost invokes the magic of an archaic ritual, sometimes by the fanciful concentration of an experimental “sound laboratory”.
Elbtonal Percussion has been touring since 1996, has performed over 1,000 concerts, and has been invited to play at numerous renowned festivals (incl. Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Lower Saxony Music Festival, Stuttgart International Music Festival & JazzBaltica). Concert tours have taken them throughout Europe and repeatedly to Asia, such as to China’s biggest percussion festival at the National Theatre in Beijing and to Shanghai, where they were cultural ambassadors for Hamburg at Expo 2010.
Their individual and unconventional sound aesthetics are what so often drive other artists to seek collaborations with them. These include such artists as the marimba virtuoso Keiko Abé, the group Quadro Nuevo, Stewart Copeland (of The Police fame), Indian drummer & percussionist Trilok Gurtu, drummer Benny Greb, actor and dubbing artist Christian Brückner, and John Neumeier and his Hamburg Ballet.
Their musical collaboration in several international film productions, such as The Baader-Meinhof Complex, directed by Uli Edel, are evidence of their ability to sensitively immerse themselves in other genres.

On Stage

Elbtonal Percussion transforms the stage into a forest of percussion instruments, regardless of whether it is a classical concert hall, the nave of a church or the stage in a jazz club. The four percussionists embark on a musical round-the-world trip with their innumerable drums, gongs, gigantic marimbaphones, and everyday objects given a new life as innovative percussion instruments.

References

Concerts

  • Schleswig-Holstein-Musik-Festival
  • JazzBaltica (Salzau/Kiel)
  • Händel Festspiele (Halle)
  • Niedersächsische Musiktage
  • Oberstdorfer Musiksommer
  • Internationales Musikfest/Bachakademie Stuttgart
  • Musikfestival Altenburg
  • Musica Bayreuth
  • 
Elbjazz Festival
  • Nachsommer Schweinfurt
  • NDR – „Das neue Werk“
  • MDR Musiksommer
  • Tanz & Folk Festival Rudolstadt
  • 
Nicolaisaal Potsdam
  • Konzerthalle Bamberg
  • Tromp Festival Eindhoven (Niederlande)
  • Beijing Music Festival (China)
  • EXPO 2010 (Shanghai/China)
  • 
NCPA International Percussion Music Festival (Peking/China)
  • 
Iwamizawa Art and Musik Festival (Sapporo/Japan)

Film soundtracks

  • “Kirschblüten-Hanami“ (2007/Doris Dörie)
  • “Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex“ (2008/Uli Edel)
  • “Pandorum“ (2009/Christian Alvart)
  • “Sein Letztes Rennen“ (2013/Kilian Riedhof)