Stemeseder & Lillinger – Umbra (feat. Tim Lefebvre & Craig Taborn)

With their trilogy duo project “Penumbra”, “Umbra” and “Antumbra”, Austrian pianist, electronic musician and composer Elias Stemeseder and German percussionist, sound researcher and composer Christian Lillinger explore the physical possibilities of sound. Using historical instruments such as the spinet as well as sound alienation, noise surfaces, samples and drones, they create an improvisational soundscape of multiple textures that refer to early compositional processes by Messiaen and Scelsi, as well as to the spectral music developed in Paris in the 1970s, which investigated the physical-acoustic characteristics of sounds. “Umbra II” is a purely acoustic quartet in contrast to the electro-acoustic “Umbra”. Guests include pianist Craig Taborn, who will also be performing his solo programme during the festival, and US bass guitarist Tim Lefebvre, who has also played with Elvis Costello, Sting and David Bowie, among others.