Keno Hariehausen Quartet

Keno Hariehausen Quartet:

Keno Harriehausen - piano & composition,
Kārlis Auziņš - saxophone,
Ayşe Deniz Birdal - cello,
Lorenz Heigenhuber - double bass.
 

Concert programme “Transformations. Between the worlds of jazz and classical music”

The international group – Keno Harriehausen Quartet, which consists of Keno Harriehausen (piano), Maya Fridman (cello), Kārlis Auziņš (saxophone), and Andris Meinig (double bass), thrillingly fuse jazz and chamber music traditions, drawing inspiration from the broad spectrum of classical 20th-century musicians and different layers of folklore, but also ideas not related to music.

The members of the quartet visibly showcase the unusual character of the group. The combination of tenor saxophone, cello, double bass, and piano creates a more contemporary chamber music ensemble than a jazz band. The pianist and composer Keno Harriehausen is interested in the non-typical formats of jazz, and the quartet is a great example of a musical ensemble in which the complex sum of individual voices and an undividable unity have found their fullest embodiment.

The concert is supported by "Initiativ Musik" and "Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien".

“The landscapes of sound [..], in which brightly coloured and excitingly beautiful moments arise. [..] You get the feeling that the musicians are offering their souls to us on a silver platter. It is music that covers the whole world and is non-hermetic. That’s the base from which the quartet further develops its unique character."

- Leipziger Volkszeitung, Ulrich Steinmetzger

“[The quartet has built] a wonderful bridge between jazz and classical music. [..Their] understanding of music means that the focus is always on the overall sound of the group, even in the moments allocated to improvisation. Although the quartet's playing echoes with purely jazz gestures, its roots are clearly in European classical music."

- Bernhard Jugel, Bavarian Radio

"There has been a lot of debate over the relationship between composition and improvisation [in jazz], which is why the quartet has gotten praise for the fact that every improvisation sounds like a spontaneous composition and at the same time can sound like a worn-out cliché. But what distinguishes the Keno Harryhausen Quartet's approach from similar pursuits by other musicians is the extremely heightened level at which [each member] is aware of the group's collective performance at every moment. Each of the quartet's musicians at any given moment intuitively feel where they belong and what role they play in this flexible musical whole. And even in moments of greater freedom, they don't go off into the middle of nowhere with their improvisation. All four musicians know not only exactly where they want to go, but also that they will really get there. They stay within the boundaries of their music very precisely and don't let any ideas from the outside world distract them. No matter what level of complexity the quartet's music reaches, everything in it progresses according to a very simple logic."

- Wolf Kampmann

Organised by SIA "Kurzemes filharmonija".

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