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Sax, Stars & Cinema: A Hollywood Dream in Music

The Hollywood Songbook is one of the highlights of Musica Viva Australia’s 2025 season, and we’re thrilled to be part of it! Together with the incredible Ali McGregor, we’ll take audiences on a journey from the cabarets of Berlin to the golden age of Hollywood.

The program features music by Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler, Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, Aaron Copland, and more—composers whose works reflect the cultural and political upheavals of their time. It’s a mix of drama, nostalgia, and energy, brought to life through saxophone and voice in a way you’ve never heard before.

Join us on tour across Australia from May 3 to May 17, 2025! For tickets and details, visit Musica Viva Australia. We can’t wait to share this music with you!

PODCAST DEUTSCHLANDFUNK @CLASSIC-POP-ET CETERA

Blaž and Alan have recorded a special program—a podcast—at Deutschlandfunk, featured on PopArt and other platforms.

In this episode, we talk about our lives, our stories, our past and future, all while sharing our favorite music. From Joseph Haydn to the sounds of the Scorpions, we take you on a journey through the music that has shaped us.

April 12, 2025 – 10:05 am – 11:05 am

LINK

That Glorious Summer of 2015

It was that glorious summer of 2015—we were at a festival by Lake Geneva when it happened: David, a founding member who had shaped the quartet so profoundly for nine years, shared his decision to leave the group. An unforgettable pain accompanied us for months; we simply couldn’t process it. Nine years of stories, ups and downs, dreams, and visions—suddenly, all of it became the past, at least with David.

But as crazy as it may sound—he’s back. And here we are in 2025, exactly nine years later, with the incredible feeling of being reunited once again.

David on his return:

Sometimes life takes turns that you don’t think are possible. I experienced one such twist at the beginning of December 2024.
I was sitting in my studio. Working on some videos and got a message. A casual glance at my cell phone.
Blaz.
I was happy inside. We had arranged to meet up in Berlin on December 15 – after we had last seen each other in real life in November 2018.
I looked at the display, read the message and was immediately in another world. 1000 thoughts flashed through my head.
A gateway to the past and future opened at the same time and seemed to merge before my inner eye.

“Would you like to play two concerts with us in January 2025?” it read.

I immediately said YES inside. Before I could even think about it

Nevertheless, my brain first had to think about whether I was able to do it.

It had been over 9 years since I had completed my “first life”. In Perugia for an emotional concert on 15.11.2015. A lot had happened in the meantime:

2 children of my own, starting a family, marriage, various jobs that more or less pushed me to my limits, corona pandemic, living in the countryside in my home country, YouTube, electronic music, pedagogy as my main job.

Playing LIVE was the exception.

Every now and then.

A far cry from the 82 concerts in 16 countries in 2015 😶‍🌫️

I often heard that there are moments when you have to make a decision.

Now such a moment had come again.

Sure, the concerts, the music at the highest level, the travel, the musical opportunities …

But deep down, I also felt that it would be like “coming home”.

To my second family, which I had left back then without any ifs or buts.

True friendship and sticking together, being there for each other, taking a real interest in each other, fighting together for a goal and burning with passion for the cause.

I had left all of that back then too.

And I haven’t found it again in this form in 9 years.

The rehearsals and concerts in January and February were fantastic. The energy and the liberation of being back on stage was indescribable.

Reunited again!

The dream that I started in 2006 will now continue and we will do everything we can to achieve our boldest goals.

I am looking forward to seeing old friends and new companions again, to magical moments on stage, to frenetic applause.

I would like to thank my colleagues for their trust

This will be unique and I’m looking forward to every second!

I also would like to thank my family and in first place my wife Viktoria to support me in this dicision. The biggest gift a beloved person can make to you: to fulfill your dreams.

It will not be easy –
but as Blaz always said:
Maybe this is really worth all the hard work and crazy organiztion.

FREDERIC HOLLAENDER: ILLUSIONS feat. Sarah Maria Sun

We are thrilled to present the first glimpse of our new program, Out of Berlin, Over the Rainbow, featuring the extraordinary soprano Sarah Maria Sun.

This program explores the turbulent first half of the 20th century—a time of radical change in society, technology, and politics—through the voices of artists who lived and reflected on those transformative years.

Join us on a journey from shadow to light, as we highlight the stories of exiles and wanderers from Europe, Siberia, and Ukraine, who shared their rich cultural heritage while searching for belonging in a fractured world. With music by Hanns Eisler, Igor Stravinsky, Erwin Schulhoff, Aaron Copland, and Kurt Weill, and texts by Bertolt Brecht, Georg Kaiser, John Cage, and Frederick Hollaender, this program creates a vivid tapestry of sound and emotion.

Watch our performance of Hollaender’s Illusions and experience the unique fusion of saxophones and the powerful voice of Sarah Maria Sun. Stay tuned for more!

 

„OUT OF BERLIN, OVER THE RAINBOW“ EPK feat. Sarah Maria Sun

The first half of the 20th century was a time of radical change—social, technological, and, of course, political. History books tell one version of this era, but what about the voices of the artists, composers, writers, and performers who lived through these turbulent years and reflected them in their art?

As we look back on 80 years of musicians from around the world coming together to share their stories, this program takes us on a journey from evocative monochrome to a vivid world of colors and from darkness to radiant hope. Along the way, we meet wanderers and exiles from Europe, Siberia, and Ukraine who shared their rich cultural heritage while seeking belonging in a fractured world.

This project features the music of Hanns Eisler, Igor Stravinsky, Erwin Schulhoff, Aaron Copland, and Kurt Weill, interwoven with texts by Bertolt Brecht, Georg Kaiser, John Cage, and Frederick Hollander.

We are thrilled to bring to life a unique symbiosis between the voices of four saxophones and the soprano of the extraordinary Sarah Maria Sun. This fusion of sound worlds is powerful, intense, and marked by an emotional depth that truly resonates.

Fondazione La Società dei Concerti

We are honored to make our debut in Milan in January 2025 for Fondazione La Società dei Concerti—where so many legendary musicians have performed. We also brought the saxophone into the season, and we couldn’t be more thrilled!

Thank you to the wonderful audience—we’ll see you again soon!

New Horizons with Lockbridge Artists Management

As musicians, our greatest joy is sharing our music with as many people as possible. And sometimes, fate plays a role in making that happen.

In September 2023, during a visit to Istanbul, we had the incredible luck of meeting two amazing individuals: Duygu and Onur. These two young, passionate, and innovative minds run Lockbridge Artists Management, a dynamic agency dedicated to bringing music to new audiences.

Their energy and fresh ideas immediately resonated with us, and we knew this was the start of something special. We are thrilled to be working with them and excited about the opportunities ahead—especially bringing our music more frequently to America and Turkey!

Stay tuned for what’s to come—we can’t wait to share this journey with you.

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE AT FESTSPIELE MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN 2024

We are delighted and proud to announce that we have been appointed the new ARTISTS in RESIDENCE at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2024 (Germany).

In 2016, we became part of the Festival Family, and since then, we have played many concerts.
But 2024 will be an entirely new and unique experience, resulting in 23 performances!

We are very proud to have this recognition and trust from the festival side as the second ensemble in their history (after Quatour Ebene), and we are already looking forward to enjoying the beautiful landscape and musical spirit of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with our friends and many well-known artists.

Highlights of the Residency include concerts with Fazil Say, Daniel Hope, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Liszt Chamber Orchestra, NDR Radio Philharmonic, and many others.