MANNHEIMER SCHLAGWERK
As often the case with exceptional ensembles, the road to success starts with a particular composition which uniquely defines the essence of the group, an exclusive signature work. The piece which put the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic on the map back in the 1970‘s, was Boris Blacher’s “Rumba Philharmonica“. The Mannheimer Schlagwerk also started off with a dance piece, treading the boards of significant venues with the acclaimed ballet music piece “the tight-rope walker” by Dennis Kuhn. Initially they played this work over several seasons on the stage for the legendary ballet soirées of the Mannheim National Theatre. There followed tours, festivals, CD recordings and radio broadcasts. This group initiated the “Mannheim Percussion Evenings” gaining a wide audience to the vital world of percussion music in all its facets, well before the popularisation of this medium broke through to mainstream media.
INFO
The Mannheimer Schlagwerk is made up of students and alumni of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim. Under the leadership of Prof. Dennis Kuhn the ensemble has established a repertoire which ranges from classic percussion literature right up to experimental music and spanning from solo works to large percussion orchestra. The success of “the tight-rope walker” led to more collaborations with the National Theatre in Mannheim, including amongst others “drums ‘n’ dance”.
In 2012 the Mannheim Schlagwerk played at the opening concert of the 8th International percussion festival in Kraków.
The ensemble has also recorded compositions of contemporary percussion music for SWR. (South West German Radio)
In Collaboration with the “EuropaChorAkademie” directed by Sylvain Cambreling they have recorded two albums for the label “Glor Classics: “Canti di Prigionia“ by Luigi Dallapiccola and Carl Orffs “Catulli Carmina“ together with “Les Noces“ by Igor Stravinsky.
English translation by Janine Zillmann from the original German text by Martin Kunzler
