Searching for new sounds he enormously broadened the expressive potential of the traditional flute and the electro-acoustically amplified contrabass flute. Matthias Ziegler currently teaches at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he is leading a research project about the Telematic Performance Format, which has become essential during the pandemic. Many recordings on CD document his inclusive musical interests.
He has been cofounder of the ”Collegium Novum Zurich“, where he has worked with Mauricio Kagel, Heinz Holliger and George Crumb.Ĭoncert tours have brought him to the US, Japan, Australia, South America and Israel.
He is committed both to the traditional literature for flute as well as to contemporary music and concepts that cross the boundaries between classical music and jazz.Īccordingly, his performances take place in a vast range of contexts: he was principal flute with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, has toured with the percussionist Pierre Favre, performed with the pianist George Gruntz as well as with the American contrabass player Mark Dresser. Matthias Ziegler is one of the world’s most versatile and innovative flutists. Her recent debut solo CD of Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf’s works for flute (NEOS) has been hailed as “remarkable” and a “virtuoso testimony.” She performs on a Burkart flute and piccolo and Kingma bass and alto flutes. She is the artistic director and co-founder of FluteXpansions, the first comprehensive e-learning platform and laboratory for composers and performers to explore contemporary flute music and techniques. In 2017, she co-curated and co-organized the first multi-day festival of Galina Ustvolskaya’s music in the United States. She was previously a founding member of Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente, with whom she received the 2012 Kranichstein Prize for Interpretation. She has received numerous accolades for her performances including, prizes at the Stockhausen Courses, the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, and New Music USA project grants. She regularly performs and teaches as a solo guest artist and with the chamber ensembles Memoria Nova (Andrew Rosenblum, piano) and Collect/Project, and as a guest artist around the world. An important part of this work is the close cooperation with living composers, poets, movement artists, and other interdisciplinary artists, around the world on the development of new work. She is interested in exploring ways to engage and involve a wider community in the process of experiencing music. Flutist Shanna Pranaitis fearlessly expands the realm of sonic possibility for her instruments through innovative performances and educational projects, in which she integrates new and historically reimagined works with multi-disciplinary elements to create seamless, immersive concert experiences.