Tiziana Bertoncini | Thomas Lehn

Tiziana Bertoncini	violin
Thomas Lehn	analogue synthesizer

Tiziana Bertoncini and Thomas Lehn have been collaborating since 2002. They play in duo and in larger or extended constellations, like the ensemble]h[iatus, which moves in the territories of improvisation and interpretation of contemporary pieces, and in trio with the Austrian pianist Elisabeth Harnik. They have been part of multimedia projects, in which they were involved as musicians and performers. In particular the performance Schöner Wohnen in 2003 (which took place in an apartment) and a performance-installation for the festival Art-Ort 2006, in which they were placed in two open containers facing each other. Besides the complete concert recording of their performance at Pulsi Festival at Triennale Bovisa in Milano, some of the container performances will be published on their first CD Horsky Park, released in spring 2011 on British label Another Timbre. In collaboration with ZAM Zentrum für aktuelle Musik they curated comprovise, a festival for contemporary composed and improvised music, which took place first time in June 2009 in Cologne supported by the german Netzwerk Neue Musik project. They have been performing together in Germany, England, France, Switzerland, Italy and Slovakia. 

Tiziana Bertoncini graduated in violin at the Siena Conservatory and in painting at the Fine Arts Academy in Carrara. She attended specialization courses in chamber music and music didactics. After having been working in orchestras and chamber music ensembles, she focused on contemporary music, notated and improvised. The practice of improvisation has been playing an important role in her musical development as creator, but also as interpreter. Her work is oscillating between a personal research on the instrument and its sound possibilities, towards composition and collaboration with artists of other medias. At the same time her interest is focused on the crossing and synthesis between visual elements and music/sound.
She has been performing in international festivals for contemporary and improvised music and has been part and contributing the music of dance, theatre, video and in general multi-media projects. 
Her work includes composition, performance and installation a.o.:
Interno immobile for trumpet, percussion, double bass and tape, composition commissioned by the Grabenfest, festival of contemporary music in Vienna in collaboration with ORF (2006);
Examen electro-acoustic composition, selected to be part of the Women’s electro- acoustic listening room (WEALR), a section of the Women in New Music festival (USA); 
SOSIA – music performance for violinist/figure and space created and performed in Stúrovo/Párkány (SK) 2008;
Panta Rei – Danube time space audio-visual installation created in Stúrovo/Párkány 2008;
Panta Rei – K #1: expansion and #2: contraction composed in Krems 2009; 
Nero Lento for violinist and tape, commissioned by the Festival Hörfest, Graz 2010.
From 1996 to 2001 she was guest artist-lecturer during the summer courses of the New York University in Italy, leading master classes of improvisation. 
In 2008 she was artist in residence in the “Bridge guard – Residential Art/Science center” in Stúrovo/Párkány, Slovakia. In 2009 she was artist in residence at the AIR Krems, Austria.

Thomas Lehn studied recording engineering and piano at the Music Academies of Detmold and Cologne. Since the early 1990s he has been performing live-electronic music with analogue synthesizers of the late 1960s, since 1994 in particular with the EMS Synthi A. Rooted in his background as an interpreting and improvising pianist in numerous ensemble and solo performances of classical, contemporary notated and various forms of improvised musics as well as a wide spectrum of involvements in multi-media projects since the early 1980s, he has been developing an individual 'language' of electronic music.
In his main projects he collaborates with various artists of the international musical avantgarde: this includes duetts with Gerry Hemingway, Marcus Schmickler, Paul Lovens, Frederic Blondy as well as trios such as KONK PACK (with Tim Hodgkinson and Roger Turner), TOOT (with Phil Minton and Axel Doerner), THERMAL (with John Butcher and Andy Moor), FUTCH (with Jon Rose and Johannes Bauer) and larger ensembles like the Music in Movement Electronic Orchestra (MIMEO).
More recents projects are speak easy (with Ute Wasssermann, Phil Minton and Martin Blume), SHIFT (with Philip Zoubek, Frank Gratkowski, Dieter Manderscheid and Martin Blume), I.T.I. (with Ken Vandermark, Johannes Bauer and Paal Nilsson-Love) and quintet SHIFT (with Philip Zoubek, Frank Gratkowski, Dieter Manderscheid, Martin Blume). 
Repeatedly supported by the Goethe-Institute, he toured in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. About 50 CD publications. 
www.thomaslehn.de

	
		update: February 11th, 2011