Good Friday: Ruth Goller & Stefano Pilia // Emily Wittbrodt „Make you stay”

Zur Kenntnisnahme: Aufgrund eines gestrichenen Fluges kann Stefano Pilia heute Abend leider nicht in Köln sein. Ruth Goller tritt im Duo mit dem Schlagzeuger Jan Philipp auf.

Bassist, singer and composer Ruth Goller is one of the most important voices on the young British jazz and improvisation scene. Last seen in 2023 with her trio Skylla and in Fabian Dudek's quartet, this evening she will be performing with Italian guitarist and composer b>Stefano Pilia. The two celebrate their long-standing musical friendship with a gentle duo set: angelic soundscapes of modular guitar layers, electronics and electric bass, accompanied by Ruth's siren-like vocals.

Make You Stay is a cycle of eight compositions by cellist and composer Emily Wittbrodt, which are based on baroque forms of recitatives and arias, transferred to the instrumentation of a contemporary jazz band. In terms of content, the cycle deals with forms of farewell.

A special double concert, dedicated to the special character of Good Friday and inner reflection.

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Ruth Goller's Skylla draws her inspiration from deep within to create a breathtakingly original and beautiful work. In her programs, Goller returns in some ways to the pure, untutored instincts that drove her as a teenage punk musician. Goller works with different moods for each song, composing instinctively based on what she hears in each moment.

Stefano Pilia is a guitarist and composer. His work is increasingly concerned with exploring the sculptural properties of electro-acoustic sound products and the relationship of sound to space, memory and the perception of time. Pilia explores these focal points through instrumental practice and investigations into the recording and production process. On this evening, Goller and Pilia will improvise freely and play some pieces from Skylla as a duo - in the spirit of the inner contemplation of Good Friday.

Make You Stay is a cycle of eight compositions by cellist and composer Emily Wittbrodt. The music is based on baroque forms of recitatives and arias, transferred to the instrumentation of a contemporary jazz band. In terms of content, the cycle deals with forms of farewell - farewell to youth, farewell to a familiar person, farewell to the familiar order of interpersonal relationships, farewell to the supposedly reliable state of a world that is heading towards an uncertain future through crises and catastrophes. In the four recitatives, texts by poets of the 20th and 21st centuries were set to music, each dealing with these themes in their own way. "Make You Stay" was released in September 2023 on the Mülheim label Ana Ott.