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An intense musical collaboration, a friendship of many years and a fascination for
the musical possibilities offered by three guitars form the foundations of the
Concert Guitar Trio, created in 1997 by Daniel Erni, Walter Feybli and Daniel
Zimmermann. The Trio's early performances in Solothurn enjoyed an enthusiastic
welcome, both from the public and the critics, which lead to a first Swiss tour. The
Concert Guitar Trio performs original compositions as well as pieces adapted from
chamber music or orchestra compositions (Vivaldi, Haydn, Rossini). A number of
distinguished Swiss composers such as Jacques Cerf, Boris Mersson, Theo
Wegmann have written pieces especially for the ensemble.
Daniel Erni
Daniel Erni rounded off his studies with a concert performer diploma, and has
pursued a highly varied career as a concert guitarist ever since. His engagements as
a soloist or a chamber musician have lead him to perform in prestigious musical
centres in Europe and Latin America. He is involved in opera performances, theatre,
film music, readings and dance projects. Daniel Erni also works as a composer and
an improviser.
His musical activities also include radio and television recordings, as well as music
production.
Walter Feybli
Walter Feybli studied at the Basel music academy. He graduated as a teacher and a
soloist in 1972. He stepped into the limelight by winning the first prize at the
international Alessadria contests in Italy in 1972, and Fernando Sor (Italy) in 1973,
as well as other awards at the Geneva International Music Competition 1975 and at
the ORTF in Paris in 1979. He performs duets (with guitar, flute, cello or vocal
accompaniment), or as an orchestra soloist all over Europe. Since 1976, he directs
training and concert classes at the Zurich and Basel music academies. Walter Feybli
and Daniel Erni have performed for more than ten years as a renowned duet. Their
collaboration has lead to performances in a number of prestigious guitar festivals,
as well as to the recording of two albums.
Daniel Zimmermann
Daniel Zimmermann began studying music at the Bienne music academy. After
obtaining a concert performer diploma from the Zurich music academy, his studies
lead him to Paris. In 1982, he won the first prize at the Stresa International Contest
in Italy. Daniel Zimmermann teaches classical guitar at the Solothurn secondary
school. He has toured Latin America, the USA, India and Africa as a soloist and a
chamber musician.
In 1995, he recorded his fist album as a soloist, with compositions by J.S. Bach, J.
Dowland, J.K. Mertz, H. Villa-Lobos and Leo Brouwer.
John Wolf Brennan
Pianist and composer John Wolf Brennan, born in Dublin, Ireland, has been widely acclaimed as an
outstanding musician. His distinctive style, marked by a deep interest in contemporary archeology, a
very personal quest for an adventurous avantgarde, an ongoing research of his Celtic roots and his
"Swiss watchmaker exactness" ("The Wire") sets him apart. His compositions cover a wide spectrum of
musical concepts and methods, ranging from piano pieces ("inside and outside" - prepared and
unprepared) to vocal scores ("Night.Shift" - an opera after a libretto by Rudolph Straub, based on
W.H.Auden's "The Age of Anxiety"; "Sculpted Sound", "Euratorium", "Bestiarium",
"PaniConversations", works for choir), from chamber ("Epithalamium" after James Joyce's "Chamber
Music"; "Alef Bet - an Oriental Peace Piece" for Israeli oboist Ori Meiraz; "A Golly Gal's Way to
Galway Bay" for James Galway, "Nearly Charming") to orchestral works, both for classical and jazz
ensembles, creating music rich in (a)tonal textures.
Composition, Improvisation and...
At the University of Fribourg, he studied musicology, film and literature. He continued his studies at the
Musikhochschule Luzern: piano (Eva Serman), harmony (Peter Benary), conducting (Alois Koch, Hans
Zihlmann, belcanto singing (Walter Meier) and organ (Monika Henking). Further studies in composition
with Karl Berger at CMS Woodstock/New York and James Wilson at the Royal Irish Academy of Music
in Dublin. Masterclasses in composition with Ennio Morricone, Edison Denissov, Klaus Huber, Heinz
Hollige and Hanspeter Kyburz.. Together with Marianne Schroeder, Jean-Luc Darbellay, Michel
Schneider, Christian Henking, Alfons Karl Zwicker and Michael Radanovics he is a member of the
Swiss composer's group "Groupe Lacroix".
...Comprovisation: Performances and Projects
Concert tours regularly bring him to Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Canada and
the USA. He has recorded five solo albums ("Flügel", "The Well-Prepared Clavier", the blue trilogy) as
well as with Lindsay Cooper, Norma Winstone, Julie Tippetts, Corin Curschellas, Magda Vogel,
Alexandra Prusa, Charlotte Hug, Shirley Anne Hofmann, Gabriele Hasler, Marianne Schroeder, Alex
Cline, Robert Dick, Hans Kennel, Arkady Shilkloper, Tscho Theißing, Daniele Patumi, Evan Parker,
Paul Rutherford, Chris Cutler, Peter Whyman, Eddie Prévost, Simon Picard, Marc Unternährer, Urs
Leimgruber, Christy Doran, Gene Coleman, Christian Wolfarth, Christian Weber, Bertrand Denzler.
Brennan has also worked with Guillermo Gregorio, Peggy Lee, Dylan van der Schyff, Jennifer Walshe,
Fred Lonberg-Holm, Chris Massey, Joëlle Léandre, Tim Berne, Ray Anderson, Elton Dean, Nana
Vasconcelos, Klaus Koch, Fredy Studer, Don Friedman, Mark Sanders, Paolo Moura, Steve Goodman,
Peter Schärli, Lars Lindvall, David Hopkins, Fritz Hauser, Peter Hollinger, Steve Argüelles. Currently
he is performing with his international quartet "Pago Libre" (w/Arkady Shilkloper, Tscho Theißing &
Daniele Patumi); "Momentum" (w/Christian Wolfarth, Bertrand Denzler & Christian Weber), "Trio
Aurealis" w/Robert Dick & D.Patumi); "MinuteAge" (w/Margrit Rieben and Reto Senn); "pipelines"
(w/Hans Kennel and Marc Unternährer); "Shooting Stars & Traffic Lights" (w/Alex Cline, John Voirol,
T.Theißing and D.Patumi) and Gabriele Hasler in "OrganIC VoICes". With "SinFONietta" and the
"Creative Works Orchestra", he has also conducted and written for major orchestras.
Sculpted Sounds: "Calculated Ecstasy"
His continuing interest in literature and the performing arts has led him to write numerous works for
theatre, dance, sound sculptures, installations and acoustical environments, such as the "klangschiff" (a
steamboat on Lake Lucerne), a setting of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" in a forest,
watermusic in a swimming pool, an aleatoric quartet for two prehistoric lurs, alphorn & prepared piano,
new music for the Glockenspiel at the Swiss Centre, London, and "Sculpted Sound", concrete poetry by
Hans Arp, Eugen Gomringer, André Thomkins and others set to music. John Wolf Brennan also works
as music teacher, gives lectures and workshops (Cortona weeks, ETH Zurich). With his wife Béatrice
and their three daughters Móreen, Enya and Jayne he lives in Weggis/Lucerne, Central Switzerland.
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