Peter Geisselbrecht & Friends: An den kleinen Radioapparat
An evening of Songs by Berthold Brecht and Hanns Eisler, with Peter Geisselbrecht, Dafna Naphtali, Saman Samadi and guests
Peter Geisselbrecht, born 1954, studied music in Cologne (piano, composition, improvisation) under Klaus Oldemeyer, Joachim Blume, Vinko Globokar and Klaus Runze. He specializes in 20th century piano music, and frequently tours with a program of compositions by victims and contemporaries of the Nazi regime. As an improviser he works primarily with musicians who are equally versed in free improvisation, jazz and contemporary classical music. Since 1985 he teaches piano and improvisation at Giessen University, Germany.
In a rare appearance at The Firehouse Space in NYC, he will present songs by Brecht / Eisler expressing solitude, grieving and longing of the refugee – sung by Dafna Naphtali and Gisburg. A selection from Geisselbrecht’s CD with works by composer Federico Mompoú refer to a poem by Juan de la Cruz in which the poet describes a music that is the voice of the silence itself, while the solitude itself becomes music. Longing is also the theme of Persian poetry sung by composer Saman Samadi, who joins the evening as a guest. The second part of the evening will see a collective improvisation by the participants.
