Résumé – Elbtonal Percussion

The four virtuoso percussionists from Ham- burg have uniquely and refreshingly mastered, the „creative crossover“ of classical, jazz and world music. With a pinch of live electronics, a truck full of drums, marimba and vibraphones, taiko drums, gongs and a miscellany of creatively repurposed everyday objects, this unique blend is the quartet‘s ‚Hamburg Sound of Percus- sion‘. Elbtonal Percussion has been performing live for 25 years, frequently on the road. The ensemble has toured throughout Europe, South America, Ja- pan and China and is a regular guest at internation- al festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, JazzBaltica, the International Music Festival Stutt- gart, the NCPA International Percussion Festival Beijing (CHN) or the Iwamizawa Art and Music Festival in Sapporo (JPN). Elbtonal Percussion has worked with percussion greats such as Trilok Gurtu, Benny Greb, Stewart Copeland, Alexej Gerassimez and Keiko Abé, as well as with artists such as John Neumeier, Christian Brückner, Quadro Nuevo and Martina Gedeck, and has given solo concerts with renowned orchestras such as the Bremen

Philharmonic Orchestra, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Choir. In addition to their concert activities, the percussionists work inten- sively with studio productions in the film industry. They can be heard on the soundtracks of the featurefilms „Kirschblüten-Hanami“ (2007/Doris Dörrie), „Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex“ (2008/Uli Edel), „Pandorum“ (2009/Christian Alvart), „Sein Letztes Rennen“ (2013/Kilian Riedhof) and „Pets United“ (2020/Reinhard Klooss). To date, Elbtonal Percussion has released ten CDs and three DVDs, and appear on numerous samplers and compilations. Furthermore, the four Percussionists are actively committed and involved with educational projects in the wider community, designed to both entertain and inspire: hands-on workshops, concerts for children and fam- ilies and school performances have been an integral part of the live concept from the outset. Special fea- tures are the self-created, comwposed and produced musical children‘s radio play „Tom the Drummer“. “Tom der Trommler“ for Sony Music/EUROPA and the „Kids & Teens Show – Boom!“ developed in col- laboration with AIDA-Cruises, which was performed live on nine Aida cruise ships from 2017 to 2019.

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.