Good Friday: Bex Burch & Simon Popp // Shannon Barnett & David Helm

Karfreitagskonzert zur inneren Einkehr

At our traditional double concert on Good Friday, we present two duos that dedicate themselves very differently to the special occasion of inner reflection.
Composer and percussionist Simon Popp first invited Bex Burch, British percussionist, composer and improviser, in 2024 for the Munich-based improvisation series Percussive Maintenance. A powerful encounter on which this duo continues to build - characterized by a deep fascination and playful curiosity for sound, play and improvisation. In their duo, their unique musical languages merge and move between structure and freedom, tension and resolution, sound and rhythm. The rather minimalist duo impresses with atmospherically dense compositions, polyrhythmic structures and the subtle, almost meditative build-up of tension in their pieces.

The second duo of the evening was created in 2020 during the pandemic, as part of DLF's "Cologne Duets" series, and brings together the Cologne-based Australian Shannon Barnett and the bassist David Helm, who also lives in Cologne. Barnett is known to many as a trombonist and composer who occasionally uses her voice as an additional color in various projects. With the duo program "How Much Is The Moon?", she puts the trombone aside to focus entirely on the singer-songwriter aspect of her artistic personality. Helm, alias Marek Johnson, is one of the busiest bassists on the young Cologne scene, whether jazz or indie pop. As a duo, they present songs from both sides, between advanced jazz and quirky, touching songwriter sound, tentative and fragile, courageous and radical.

Bio Bex Burch + Simon Popp
Burch's critically acclaimed solo album There is only love and fear (2023) was awarded Contemporary Album of the Month by The Guardian; she runs the label and post-punk band Vula Viel, the music format Kantine Musik and works with numerous influential artists. Simon Popp makes a powerful statement about what contemporary percussion music can be. With his solo work and projects such as 'Fazer', 'Poeji' and 'Polygonia & Popp', he operates at the interface of jazz, ambient and electronic music.