Hildegard spread wings to bring jazz to three SA cities
SWITZERLAND’S ambitious and award-winning sextet, featuring some of the top jazz musicians Europe has to offer, heads to South Africa for a whirlwind tour of three cities across the country.
Hildegard Lernt Fliegen, also known as, Hildegard Learns To Fly, embarks on a journey fuelled by worldclass musical ingenuity and characterised by their unique style of jazzy exuberance and quirky humour.
After a busy schedule as one of the acts at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Hildegard Learns to Fly spreads their music to Cape Town and Johannesburg audiences between today and Wednesday. The sextet comprises Andreas Schaerer (vocals]), Andreas Tschopp (trombone), Matthias Wenger (soprano/alto saxophone, flute), Benedikt Reising (baritone / alto saxophone, bass clarinet), Marco Müller (bass), Christoph Steiner (drums) and Christoph King-Utzinger – accompanying as sound engineer and bass player in collaborations.
Chatting to the band leader, acclaimed Swiss vocalist and composer Andreas Schaerer, ahead of the tour, he told me
that he was wrapping up a tour of Canada.
My first auditory experience with the their music was a piece of work produced in 2017 with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, featuring a 20-minute appearance by Hildegard Lernt Fliegen. Schaerer didn’t just grab this opportunity – he really ran with it. What he composed was a six-movement orchestral work, with parts for 66 players.
It encapsulates what Schaerer speaks of – a childlike freedom matched with a technicality that the sextet has come to master: “We started working together 13 years ago ... We’ve had beautiful collaborations with wonderful musicians, classic orchestras, etc, mainly pushing boundaries. We quit traditional jazz stages and we’ve opened up to classical venues and even the theatre environment.”
Hildegard Learns to Fly performs as a part of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia’s Winter Programme that is designed to cultivate audiences, develop cultural exchange and connect communities throughout June and July 2018.
TOUR DATES:
CAPE TOWN Today, Norval Foundation, 7.30pm; tomorrow, Joseph Stone Auditorium, Athlone, 7.30pm.
JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, July 4, UJ Arts Centre Theatre, University of Johannesburg, 7.30pm.