contemporary instrumental duo art classical
Johanna Summer, piano featuring one of the following pianists: Claire Huangci, Danae Dörken, Kit Armstrong
In her concert format, Johanna Summer deliberately navigates the worlds of classical music and improvisation. Whilst encounters between these two genres have often remained marginal phenomena, she succeeds in playfully dissolving the boundaries and developing her own distinctive musical language.
Taking classical works as her starting point, she improvises on their musical character – concisely, coherently, and yet entirely in the moment. Her improvisations feel like new compositions that develop organically from what is heard. A lively dialogue emerges between the original and its transformation, between the past and the present.
With her programme DIALOGE, she brings this idea to the stage > Classical pieces are taken up, continued or deliberately interrupted – resulting in spontaneous musical dialogues that make every concert unique. Whether in a duo with pianists or in collaboration with other instruments such as the violin > The approach remains open, flexible and willing to take risks.
Important to note > Two grand pianos are not strictly necessary for this format. The special appeal of this direct musical exchange comes into its own even with a single instrument or in other ensemble configurations.
This concert format is specifically aimed at crossover-oriented concert halls, jazz venues and experimental performance spaces. It appeals to an audience that brings with it curiosity, openness and a delight in cross-genre sound experiences.
Johanna Summer stands for music ‘without category’ – intense, surprising and entirely rooted in the moment.
Johanna Summer never rests in comfort zones; for her, every concert and every recording feels like a new departure — and more and more people are falling for her nonconformist approach.
Johanna Summer never wanted to become a pianist - at least not a classical one. She did not want to play what others had written down, but to invent music herself. She does so with great courage and virtuosity. […] One must listen to fully grasp Summer’s music - but one can also simply surrender to it. ****
Johanna Summer is on the verge of a major international jazz career. […] A remarkable hallmark of her piano playing is that there seems to be no dividing line between composition and improvisation. Everything feels worked out, shaped, never merely tossed off in a flash of genius. It is astonishing to imagine how much is reflected upon, eliminated, elaborated and then brought to sound with such assurance on the way from the mind to those slender fingers. From an abundance of pianistic ideas, the most varied piano techniques, playful devices, impulses, an unusually rich use of the pedal, inspirations, traditional genres and gestures borrowed, for instance, from classical music, Summer creates opulent jazz compendia.
