Øystein Baadsvik in rehearsal with festival participants, conducted by Peter Knudsvig

Baadsvik conducting a master class in Lichtenberg ...

... and in concert with Rekkenze Brass

Lichtenberg master classes with Jon Burgess

and Michael Tunnell

Haus Marteau is the home of "Brass im Frankenwald", an annual brass course and festival hosted by Rekkenze Brass. Lousville University's Michael Tunnell starts the story:

From Tuesday, June 26 through Sunday, July 1, Cardinal Brass Quintet (a student quintet from University of Louisville) and I participated in the Brass im Frankenwald Festival in Germany hosted by Rekkenze Brass. (This was part of a larger tour of Belgium and Germany which is described in a separate ITG News article.) Rehearsal and classes were held in Haus Marteau near Lichtenberg, where the students stayed with host families. Two fantastic concerts were given on June 30 in Lichtenberg and on July 1 in Hof. Another student quintet from the USA, the Texas Christian University Student Brass Quintet, coached by Jon Burgess, also participated in the festival,. In addition, area students and semi-professional players signed up for the festival and formed a large brass choir.

The guest artist for the festival was Øystein Baadsvik, the incredible Norwegian tuba artist. Øystein, hosts Rekkenze Brass, Jon Burgess, and Michael Tunnell gave master classes and coached all the groups. The members of Rekkenze Brass are: Peter Knudsvig, trumpet; Benjamin Sebald, trumpet; Debra Luttrell, horn; René Jampen, trombone; and Rainer Streit, tuba.

This festival was an awe-inspiring event, and all the students made incredible musical progress and growth as a result.

Barbara Pittner from the Oberfranken District - the local government area which operates Haus Marteau - takes up the narrative:

Brass is fun! The Rekkenze Brass ensemble and the tuba player Øystein Baadsvik proved that with a rousing concert in Lichtenberg in Oberfranken (Upper Franconia), Bavaria, Germany. The concert was the conclusion of the one-week brass ensemble course “Brass im Frankenwald” (or “Brass in the Franconian Forest”), hosted by Rekkenze Brass at Haus Marteau, the International Music Meeting-place of the Oberfranken district. This event has run annually since 2001. The festival includes an one-week course for brass ensemble and a master class under the direction of the guest soloist and the other lecturers, the one-day workshop “Brass is fun” and the concert at the end of the week. Each year a different instrument is the particular focus of attention: this year it was the tuba and for that the worldwide tuba virtuoso Øystein Baadsvik was brought in as guest artist and clinician.
 
Twenty-three musicians took part in the brass ensemble course this year, amongst whom there were two ensembles from the USA. The age span is wide and the musical backgrounds widely differing, as every level of playing skill was represented. Some of the participants have come to Lichtenberg repeatedly, since they appreciate the intensive and concentrated work in a relaxed atmosphere: thus the ambitious amateur is seated next to the professional and each benefits from the other. This was exactly the point of the work, as René Jampen of Rekkenze Brass pointed out, continuing: “We want to remove constraints and offer amateur musicians the chance to play in a concert with world-class professionals.” The result is a joint concert of all course participants, the programme of which, however, would not be fixed at the beginning of the working week,  but developed during the course. The only thing that is certain is that all course participants are taught by professional lecturers and will perform in concert with them.

The one-week course is completed by a one-day workshop “Brass is fun”. This course is aimed at all brass players who would like to gain ideas and developments for their playing. “The instrument itself does not make music.” Øystein Baadsvik explains to the participants the importance of the right breathing technique and has them approach breathing through warm-up exercises. “The air makes the sound”, the Norwegian musician tells us, “and the body puts the air into motion.” Before all playing comes posture, breathing- and lip-technique. It is not sheer power, but the right technique of the lips that builds the tone that finally comes out of the instrument. It was an entertaining morning in the gymnasium hall at Lichtenberg, because the tuba virtuoso demonstrated the technical exercises using a range of humorous, vivid examples.

The concert in the evening was great fun for all participants – the musicians as well as the audience. The “no name” ensemble that had developed in the course of the week’s work delivered a convincing professional performance, giving the impression that its musicians had already played together for many years. The star of the evening was certainly Øystein Baadsvik, who exhibited his virtuosity with wit and obvious enjoyment, for example while playing Monti’s famous Czardas so fast that the audience almost had trouble catching its breath.

Finally, with Peter Knudsvig conducting, all the musicians joined together in a great brass orchestra and presented first Fanfare and Prayer, one of Knudsvig’s own compositions, which this lecturer, composer, arranger and trumpet player of Rekkenze Brass had dedicated to the longstanding artistic director of the Haus Marteau, Professor Dr. Günther Weiß. With the second composition Four Western Fantasies Knudsvig took the audience away on a tour of his American homeland.

In 2008 a further “Brass im Frankenwald” festival is planned, hosted by Rekkenze Brass and sponsored by the Oberfranken District. From 5th to 9th  August 2008 Brass players of all ages and capabilities are invited to improve their skills in Lichtenberg. For more details please see the Rekkenze Brass website listed below.

Links:
Haus Marteau in German, French and English
Rekkenze Brass in German
Rekkenze Brass in English
Brass in Frankenwald 2007 at Oberfranken district council - in German
Oberfranken district council (Bezirk Oberfranken) home page - in German