Tom Blankenberg & Audrey Chen

Since 2013, Düsseldorf-based sound designer and pianist Tom Blankenberg has been delighting his ever-growing international fan base with minimalist solo piano music, positioned somewhere between classical, jazz, avant-garde, score and song. With his “Piano Monologen” (Piano Monologues) he went on tour around Germany from 2017 onwards, and in 2019 his first album “atermus” was released, which enthused listeners worldwide. After a cancelled European tour in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic, new pieces emerged in lockdown that traced the moment of pause during this time and were collected on the second album “et” (2021). The music video “kashmir”, which was released to accompany the album, was shown at many film festivals and has also won awards. In 2020 Tom Blankenberg received the Förderpreis of the city of Düsseldorf, and in 2021 he was nominated for the NRW Pop Award as Outstanding Artist. Since 2022, Blankenberg has also been presenting his new pieces live again, including in Athens, London, Copenhagen and Paris. A new album is being produced in 2023, from which some tracks will be performed at the concert in the 34OST.

The Chinese-American musician Audrey Chen completed a classical education as a cellist and singer and initially specialised in early music. After completing her studies, she developed into one of the most extraordinary improvisation artists, combining voice, cello and electronics into one instrument. Her playing explores the combination and layering of analogue synthesizers, prepared sound generators and traditional and extended techniques in both voice and cello. Chen has performed concerts in many European countries, Russia, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, North and South America. She has appeared at festivals including Maerzmusik (Berlin), Klangspuren (Austria), Sound of Stockholm, Now Now (Sydney) and Wien Modern, and has performed at Covent Garden London, Radialsystem Berlin, Opéra Lille, Rote Fabrik Zurich and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Originally from Chicago, Chen has lived in Berlin since 2011, from where she undertakes her regular international concert tours.

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What the press says about Tom Blankenberg:

“Strangely tender romantic melodies are concealed in minimalist sparseness, as if Bill Evans were communing with Arvo Pärt” (misfitcity.org)

“Soundtrack for a joyful day” (Rheinische Post)

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This is what the press says about Audrey Chen:

“Singing with Audrey is like working with all the possible noises of the universe and beyond, earthquakes, colliding galaxies and slugs sliding down a wet window, very quiet.” (Phil Minton)

“Fleshy, breath-driven and flecked with spittle, Chen’s voice emanates not just from her mouth but from an ensemble of upper body surfaces, channels, passages, and cavities.” (The Wire)