Extended Piano

Performer: Sebastian Berweck (piano and analogue electronics)

Compositions by James Saunders, Benjamin Lang, Michael Maierhof, Thomas Wenk, Johannes Kreidler

Text by Michael Rebhahn ‘Leaving the comfort zone: Sebastian Berweck’s revision of the piano’ (translation into English by Philipp Blume; booklet in English and German)

Research area: experimental piano music and contemporary performance practice

This collection of works extends the arena of action for both the piano as an instrument and the pianist as performer. Using simple analogue electronics and preparations, these compositions reveal ‘shadow aspects’ of ‘pianism’ by transposing the way the pianist performs beyond the keyboard.

Sebastian Berweck is one of the most sought-after pianists in the field of experimental contemporary music. He has commissioned and premiered over 100 works and appeared as a soloist at the Salzburger Festspiele, ISCM Wolrd Music days (Switzerland, Stuttgart, Vilnius), Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Spring in Heidelberg, Nous Sons Festival Barcelona and the Damstadt Summer Courses. He is the co-founder of stock11.de, a collective of composers and performers and is researching performance practice issues surrounding music with live electronics at CeReNeM, University of Huddersfield.