"stimmhorn" chamber performance


"stimmhorn" is also further on tour as a duo. In their chamber concert, the audiences are witness to the continuing evolution of their work. The integration of new pieces from "igloo" gives new impulses and moves the previous to another place. Here, they come very close to their audience: the two performers with their polyphonic worlds of voice and sound.

"Utterly sincere, technically brillant and completely bonkers… You really have to experience them live! If what they do is closer to art than music, then think of them as site-specific living sculpture - and a lot more fun than Gilbert and George."
[The Guardian]


voice
Christian Zehnder:
voice, overtone singing, yodel, wippcordion, bandoneon, bandurria, organ pipes, hang, reed organ and other means of musical expression


horn
Balthasar Streiff:
alpenhorn, doublealpenhorn, alpofon, buchel, cornet, baroque trumpet, tuba, goathorn, voice



stimmhorn
Border crossers in the Helvetic landscape of sound

At the beginning, there is the alpenhorn. Then, there are the first few overtones. Bizarre sounds are generated before images of the sublime world of mountains. "stimmhorn" leave behind all categories and pass beyond all genres: with references to various musical styles and combined with theatrical elements, the duo, using the means of instrument and voice, invents acoustic voyages between traditional and experimental worlds of sound. For their innovative joy in experimentation, Zehnder/Streiff have been given numerous award-winning commissions. "stimmhorn" have become a label for a mixture of foreign and familiar sounds of the land from the Alps.


"igloo" is the name of their latest production, in which the musician "kold", with electronics and beats, expands the duo's cosmos of sounds even further.

Besides that, "stimmhorn" continue to be on their way as a duo. In their chamber performance, [kammerkonzert] the two musicians share the creative process with their audience.



works

Awards & Prizes / composition assignments
1997 Prix de la Scène Suisse 1997
1997 "EchoOrte", commissioned by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Cultural Foundation
1997 "AZ-Stern des Jahres", for the most outstanding musical performance in Munich in the year of 1997
1998 "Eiserner Eversteiner", [European ethno-music award] jury and audience award
1998 Commission for "troilus & cressida" by W.S. Shakespeare, for the Salzburger Festspiele, director: Stefan Bachmann
2000 Commission for the music film "inland" for the Swiss Television SF DRS
2000 Commission for the KKL Lucerne by the SIA Switzerland [Swiss Association for Engineering and Architecture]
2004 "Au Coeur des Ténèbres" by Joseph Conrad Commission for a concert by the Opéra Décentralisé Neuchâtel, under the direction of Valentin Reymond, to accompany a composition by Martin Pring
2004 Concert tour with "Huun-Huur-Tu"

Sound media
1996 "melken", [Röhr 9601], distributor RecRec Zürich
1997 "schnee", [Röhr 9702], distributor RecRec Zürich
2001 "inland" [recrec make w11], distributor RecRec Zürich
2004 "igloo", stimmhorn & kold electronics [recrec make w16]

Music for films / films with and about stimmhorn
[selection]
1998 "Tamangur", art film [music: Christian Zehnder]
2000 "Il Project Vrin", by Christoph Schaub [produced by Televisiun Rumantscha, music: "stimmhorn"]
2001 "inland", by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud [produced by SF DRS, music: "stimmhorn"]
2002 "Propeller des Lichts", a cinematic encounter of "stimmhorn" with the Mongolian overtone singers of the band "Huun-Huur-Tu". Produced by ARTE.
"Zeit der Titanen", documentary by Edgar Hagen [music: Christian Zehnder]
2003 "Die Wägsten und die Besten des Landes", documentary by Matthias von Gunten [music: "stimmhorn"]
"Das Alphorn", documentary by Stefan Schwientert [with Balthasar Streiff & Hornroh]
2004 "Au sud des nuages", feature film by Jean-Francois Amiguet [music: "stimmhorn"]

Tours in Switzerland, Europe, Southafrica, Japan