Ohio Valley Wrestling

In the organizer's words:

cuba culture in the BLACK BOX at CUBA

STAGE off LIMITS

Ohio Valley Wrestling

Shimmering drones, vibrating surfaces, free-jazz deconstructions. The duo of experimental saxophonist Florian Walter and virtuoso pianist Rieko Okuda explores tonal and structural boundaries.

Rieko Okuda received her first classical music lessons in Japan at the age of three. At a young age, she took part in a piano competition in the city of Kaizuka and won first prize. She later moved to the United States to study jazz music. She made her first recordings in 2006 and played on the American jazz scene with musicians such as Bob Mintzer, Jon Faddis and John Fedchock and became increasingly interested in free jazz and new improvisational music. She performed here with musicians such as Marshall Allen (leader of the Sun Ra Orchestra), Elliott Levine and Calvin Weston. She has also made guest appearances at various jazz festivals. Her interest in improvised music eventually led her to Berlin to work with musicians such as Audrey Chen, Els Vandeweyer, Susanne Zapf, Yuko Kaseki, Inma Galiot, Tobias Delius, Ignaz Schick, Linda Frederickson and Axel Dörner and dancers such as Jenny Haack and Zala Pezdir.

Okuda's work combines electronic and electro-acoustic approaches and is characterized by concentrated repetition, unadorned minimalism and broad emotional arcs.

Florian Walter is an instrumentalist (various saxophones, contrabass clarinet, hechtyphon) and composer based in Zurich. His work covers a wide range of contemporary music and is characterized in particular by transdisciplinary and cross-genre aspects

He studied music, jazz saxophone, composition and history in Essen. Through his involvement in various ensembles from the fields of experimental pop music, modern jazz, improvisation, contemporary music and theater music, he searches for new ways to develop and construct sound and perform it in a situational context without resorting to stereotypes of traditional musical concepts.

In 2019 he was awarded the Westfalen Jazz Prize in Münster.

Instrumentation:

Rieko Okuda - piano
Florian Walter - tuba & alto saxophone

Price information:

12€ normal price, 10€ reduced, under 20 years Free admission