a twin-pack from central switzerland

This concert features two outstanding ensembles from the folk music scene of Central Switzerland. The programme begins with the Duo Albin Brun & Kristina Brunner (with Evelyn Brunner as a guest), then after the interval, the Gabriel Nietlispach Pupato Trio will perform, after which both ensembles will come together on stage for their crowning finale.

Albin Brun and Kristina Brunner are two kindred spirits on the contemporary folk music scene who have joined forces to form a highly acclaimed duo. These two multi-instrumentalists each possess their own unmistakable musical style, and their symbiosis in their duo enables them to develop an idiosyncratic, atmospherically intense, poetical music. Their sophisticated original compositions always feature improvisational excursions, and when combined with the expert sound of Evelyn Brunner on double bass, they create chamber music of magical simplicity. Theirs is an intimate dialogue of two and three musicians that is characterised by a spirit of abandon, an infectious joy in music-making, mischievousness and a great openness. Their interplay has a somnambulistic quality – exploring melodious, playful, surprising, highly virtuosic and passionate worlds of sound.

Just as with the duo of Brun and Brunner, the members of the Gabriel Nietlispach Pupato Trio are also outstanding instrumentalists who refuse to mistake tradition with the sedentary. The result is a Swiss folk music that sounds like it’s been picked up on the road, and is yet at home. Andreas Gabriel, Jürg Nietlispach and Andi Pupato are engaged in the continuing development of Swiss folk music. All three are top-class sound artists on the Swiss music scene, and they know how they can effortlessly combine traditional “Jüützli”, “Zäuerli” and old dances with their own composition. This Trio is on the hunt for new freedoms, sounds and moods that are not to be found so easily in Swiss folk music. In Andermatt, Gabriel, Nietlispach and Pupato will present their debut work “Villa Rosa”. They composed and rehearsed it in the Villa Rosa in the Onsernone Valley, and their programme will feature sounds, noises and rhythms to transport their audience into the wild, fertile Ticino Valley. Here, three musicians come together who possess the mastery and the willingness to take risks in exploring anew the freedoms offered by folk music.