Mallets Mozartissimo

Instrumentalists:

Roland Härdtner - Marimba, Vibraphon
Information about Roland Härdtner's musical career can be found under "biographie"

Lars Binder - Marimba

Lars Binder won several times the first prize at „Jugend jazzt“ (Young Jazz Musician) and „Jugend musiziert“ (Young Musician) at federal state and national German level. He studied jazz and popular music as well as orchestra music in Germany and the United States. Besides his own band „Jazz Syndrom“ he plays with the „Cecile Verny Quartett“ (jazz between world music and pop), „L 14,16“ (contemporary jazz), Sarah Kaiser (modern gospel), Andrea Reichhart (songwriter jazz) and the „Metronom Art Trio“ (loop jazz). He toured the US, France, Belgium, Hungary, the near- and middle-East and Africa. Both CDs recorded by „L 14,16“ were awarded with the quarterly prize by the association of german record critics.

Badische Philharmonie Pforzheim

The „Badische Philharmonie Pforzheim“ accompanies all opera and operetta productions, as well as a major part of the musicals and a part of the ballet productions at the Pforzheim Theatre. There was a continously rising number of musicians in the orchestra, now it has 42 members. The programme of the last years has contained, besides well known and often played works, als operas like „Turandot“, „Lulu“, „Nabucco“, „Der Rosenkavalier“ and „Aida“.for the first time.

The „Badische Philharmonie“ is not only present at the musical theatre stage, but also in the music culture of the city of Pforzheim with various symphonie concerts. The programme contains symphonies by Beethoven, Bruckner and Mahler also tone poems by Liszt, Dvorák and Strauss. They also play works of the classical modernism and big choir works such as Orff's „Carmina Burana“ or the „Requiem“ by Verdi.

The orchestra makes a valuable constribution to the musical youth work of the theatre by a series called „Adventure Music“ and by performing children and youth concerts. A lot of the orchestra's members engage themselves in different chamber music ensembles, which perform at the theatre's foyer regularly.

In 2005 the „Badische Philharmonie“ cellebrated its 75^th anniversary. Founded in 1930 as „Symphonie Orchester Pforzheim“ the body of sound was financed mainly by radio recordings for the „Süddeutsche Rundfunk Stuttgart“ and by engagements in different cities offering convalescent cures. In 1940 the town took charge of it, its home is now the local theatre.

Jari Hämäläinen - Conductor
Born in Helsinki, Finland, Jari Hämäläinen completed his musical studies in piano, singing and conducting at
the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and graduated as a concert pianist. From 1985 to 1990, he worked as an assistant to the General Music Director at the Finish National Theatre and, at the same time, as a coach and conductor at the Savonnlina Festival.  He was engaged for the first time in Germany by the Stadttheather Hildesheim in 1990. After engagements in Hildesheim and Braunschweig as Kapellmeister, he became the General Music Director and Music
Director of the Stadtheater Pforzheim. In 2003 he was named Opera Director and Intendant of the Opera.
In 1999 he debuted with the Frankfurt Opera conducting Don Giovanni. He then made frequent guest appearances at the Finish National Opera, conducting Bizet’s Carmen in 2002 and Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio in 2004. Under his direction the rarely played opera Mefistofele was premiered at the Theatre of Regensburg in 2005 to great critical acclaim.
In addition, Jari Hämäläinen has worked with numerous orchestras all over Europe including the Munich Philharmonics, the Stuttgart Philarmonics, the Finish Sinfonia Jyväskylä, the WPR, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, the Symphonieorchester Münster, as well as the Thüringer Symphoniker, the Orchestras of Teatro Carlo Felice Genova
in Italy and the Opéra National de Lorraine in France.
Since 2008 he has been the Artistic Director of the renowned Savonlinna Festival in Finland and has conducted operas in Genova, Ireland, Australia, Hawai, Hong Kong, Macau and at the Peking Music Festival.

Info

Having the positive experiences in mind made with the work on Bach's arrangements for mallet instruments, the results can be heard on the CDs „Badinerie“ and „AIRevolution“, the year 2006 with the celebration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts' 250 th birthday offered an opportunity to honour the works from Vienna's greatest composer. Whilst looking through the suitable pieces of music, it was noticed that often two voices are leading. These can be the sung parts in a duett, the voices of the right and the left hand in a piano concerto or the dominating voices of the first and second violin in a string ensemble. This strongly suggested the transcription of two different sounding solo mallet instrumets accompanied by an orchestra: the metallic vibraphon and the marimba with its wooden plates. Roland Härdtner worked with the same instruments on Bach's two-voiced „Inventionen“ already in the 90ies.

The selection of pieces, all re-worked solely by Härdtner, represent an overview of Mozart's works,ranging from a piano sonata to a string serenade and from various concertos up to a symphony, a sacred motet, arias, duetts, and an opera overture. Therefore the transcrption to the mallet instruments is carried out in many different ways.

Press reviews

• Mallets Mozartissimo - PZ 14.10.2006 - CD Rezension

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