NICA exchange: Stefan Schönegg "Enso: A Simplified Space" & Alistair Payne "This Thread Walks"

20:00 I Concert I 🎤 Concert hall

In 2022, the Netherlands-based Scottish composer and trumpeter Alistair Payne was commissioned by the renowned venue BIMHUIS in Amsterdam to compose a piece for the concert series REFLEX; a concert series that gives musicians the space to bring their individual interpretation of the zeitgeist to the stage. Payne says of the resulting music: "I am heavily influenced by the lyrics and spoken word performances of Tongo Eisen-Martin. The album "This Thread Walks", was written to be a cohesive work where each piece relies on the context of the album. I tried to create a rollercoaster of sounds and genres, a bit like rolling down the car window in a busy city."

In November 2023, "This Thread Walks" will be released on BIMHUIS Records, along with a live recording made at BIMHUIS on September 22nd.

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For his ensembles, all under the title Enso, Cologne-based bassist, composer and improviser Stefan Schönegg writes contemporary chamber music for various instrumentations. Since the project was launched in 2016, Schönegg has focused on minimal material that allows for a patient exploration of timbres and melodic gestures, blurring the line between improvisation and composition. Enso has thus developed into a collective term for a growing number of performers who interpret Schönegg's music sensitively and attentively. In the trio line-up with pianist Marlies Debacker and Etienne Nilessen on the extended snare drum, Schönegg continues to explore the possibilities of Enso. In 2024, the ensemble will release an album with this line-up. Recorded in the rooms of Deutschlandfunk.