Miriam Erttmann
Miriam
Erttmann
violin composition arrangement
Vita
Miriam Erttmann studied historical musicology at the University of Hamburg from 2000-2003 and violin with Prof. Jan Tomeš at the Berlin University of the Arts from 2003-2009. During her studies she was inspired by her work with Prof. Michael Mücke, Prof. Tomasz Tomaszewski, Prof. Ivan Zenaty and Sir Simon Rattle, among others, in master classes and orchestra projects.
Since completing her studies, she has been seen and heard on stage in her own chamber music projects with more than 500 concerts worldwide. This includes concerts at the Admiralspalast Berlin, Nikolaisaal Potsdam, Felicia Blumenthal Center Tel Aviv and Concertgebouw Amsterdam. The versatile musician is also a regular orchestral and studio musician and has gained live and studio experience in jazz and pop music.
She founded the Piazzolla Trio Luz y Sombra in 2006, has been a member of the Berlin tango jazz quartet Bassa since 2008 and violinist of the Israeli-German ensemble Trio Camino since 2012, which musically makes its way between the worlds of traditional folklore and contemporary classical music. She is also singer and pianist in the singer/songwriter duo Blackbird and Spenser.
Miriam has released eight albums with her projects so far and has been supported by the Initiative Musik des Bundes, the Hamburg foundation Café Royal and the Berlin Senate.
Her many years of experience in booking, project management, artistic direction and press work for her own ensembles have also enabled her to work for larger cultural institutions, such as Eliszi`s Jahrmarktstheater Stuttgart.
She passes on her love of music in regular teaching activities to her students in Berlin at the Hunsrück-Grundschule Kreuzberg and privately. Songwriting, arrangement and composition for all her projects complete her artistic and musical work.
Projects
Luz y Sombra
In a playful game between light and shadow, the trio Luz y Sombra invites the audience on a journey into the dark, mysterious streets and the bright lights of the bars in Buenos Aires by night.
In this city the music of Astor Piazzolla emerged – music that has been conquering big concerthalls throughout the whole world since 1950. With its own arrangements for the special instrumentation of violin, clarinet and piano, Luz y Sombra manages to illuminate the extensive facets of Piazzolla’s Tangos. Combining lyrical melodies with percussive chords and sharp glissandi, the three classically trained musicians present this exceptional music in their very own way.
In delightfully moderated concerts, the Berlin-based trio tells a story of longing and hope, of melancholy and the joy of living – the story of Tango Nuevo.
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Cora Rott – clarinet, bass clarinet
Katja Steinhäuser – piano
Bassa
Chamber music largos, fiery flamenco rhythms, classical tango melodies, oriental scales and virtuoso jazz improvisations merge in the music of the Berlin Ensemble Bassa to form an incomparable mixture that takes its listeners into a new world of sound. A world of sound that offers consolation, conjures up a smile, inspires dreams and takes you away from the loneliness of everyday life.
For more than 15 years the quartet has been meeting in a wild backyard in the middle of the rushing Kreuzberg and has been processing all the colourful Berlin variety with love for detail and a lot of calmness in its delicate, handmade music. Bassa’s sound is shaped by his players, who inspire each other with their different musical roots.It arises from their love for their own instrument, the adventurousness to try new sounds and the interaction of their unique line-up, which has long made them a true Berlin house brand.
Miriam Erttmann – Violin
Hannes Daerr – clarinet, bass clarinet
Takashi Peterson – guitar
Tobias Fleischer – double bass
Blackbird and Spenser
Blackbird and Spenser are a young musical duo with great stories to tell. Their journey began on the road from Berlin to Hamburg, the two cities where Blackbird and Spenser found their voice, with tales of living together apart, feelings of losing yourself only to find yourself again, the truth and what is on the other side of the truth.
Their two voices blend and take us to a place beside the crackling campfire of times past in the American country and folk tradition. Their subtle lyrics are accompanied by skillful violin and steel guitar arrangements. These two musicians manage to build their stories on the back of a banjo, a Rhodes piano, a Mellotron and a carillon.
Miriam Erttmann – vocals, piano, violin, carillon
Hannes Klock – vocals, guitar, banjo, steel guitar, harmonica
Trio Camino
After their successful debut in November 2012 in Tel Aviv the Israeli German Trio Camino proceeds a journey on the path between the musical worlds of tango, klezmer and classical music. The three musicians from Berlin and Tel Aviv present a manifold concert program which pays homage to original folklore but also shows the further development of this musical heritage.
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Noa Figer – clarinet
Katja Steinhäuser – piano
Duo Aviv
The Duo Aviv presents its listeners a varied program full of vocal melodies for violin and piano. With a selection of the well-known “Songs without Words” by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and thus in their Berlin homeland, the two instrumentalists begin their musical journey, which takes them to France to Fauré, to Poland to Wieniawski and finally to faraway Russia to Rachmaninoff.
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Katja Steinhäuser – piano
Brighten My Northern Sky - A Tribute to Nick Drake
Blackbird and Spenser + Band & Strings present:
Brighten My Northern Sky – A Tribute to Nick Drake
His songs are full of melancholy and tragedy, as if made for dark winter nights. Even 70 years after his birthday, and thus 44 years after his early death, the subtly composed melodies of the English songwriter have lost none of their fascination.
On this occasion, Blackbird and Spenser, together with guest musicians from Hamburg and Berlin, invite you to indulge in the most beautiful weltschmerz.
The singer/songwriter duo impresses with its high musical level, fine arrangements and variety of instruments. After the release of their first album “Home in the Sky”, the two musicians also dedicate themselves to the arrangement and authentic realization of a selection from the Drake albums “Five Leaves Left”, “Bryter Layter” and “Pink Moon”. Together with band and strings they present an unforgettable program for Nick Drake lovers and all those who want to get to know his unique music.
Das Mädchen spricht
In her new project “Das Mädchen spricht” (The Girl Speaks), Miriam Erttmann has created an album that will appeal to lovers of both romantic art songs and German pop music.
With great sensitivity, she arranges and interprets a selection of favourite songs by Clara and Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf. She reverently adapts the compositions in such a way that they are placed in a contemporary context without losing their emotional core. It is about fulfilled and unfulfilled love, about loneliness and bliss –
and the beauty of unadorned simplicity.
Live
Media
Luz y Sombra showreal, March 2016
Bassa - Moving It All Over The Place
Bassa - Videoclip "Don`t Look Back"
Blackbird and Spenser - Aching of the Soul
Brighten my Northern Sky - A Tribute to Nick Drake, Blackbird and Spenser and Guests
Blackbird and Spenser, Trailer Record Release "Home in the Sky"
Releases
Chiquilín (2021)
Luz y Sombra & Nicolás Lartaun
The homeless boy Chiquilín sells roses in the theater district of Buenos Aires and dreams of finally flying away with his self-made kite. If only he had let himself be enchanted by the destiny on the white bicycle that rattles through the city these days. Meanwhile, behind one of the many illuminated windows, a man is drinking his penultimate whiskey. While he reviews his life, a love-struck dancer with a bowler hat on his head waltzes in the streets. If you follow him, you meet Maria, who herself embodies the story of the tango through revival and death, rebirth and ghost existence.
All these wondrous characters and surreal scenes come to life on the album Chiquilín by Luz y Sombra and Nicolás Lartaun. Horacio Ferrer created them in the 1960s in his lyrics for Astor Piazzolla and his outrageously avant-garde music, which moves boundlessly between tango, classical modernism and jazz. A long collaboration between the two masters of their art resulted in impressive songs and ballads that at the time stirred and polarized the world.
Nicolás Lartaun – voice
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Cora Rott – clarinet/bass clarinet
Katja Steinhäuser – piano
Ahewáuwen - Ein Tangomärchen (2018)
Bassa
On the rocky coast of Tierra del Fuego, the sea lion Ahewáuwen falls in love with a young, beautiful human woman. With the help of a trick he manages to pull her into the waters while fishing and to bring her on his back to the shore of an uninhabited neighbouring bay…
Fear of the foreign, longing for home and opening up to a new environment are not only big themes of tango but also of our present time. With the setting of the Argentinean fairy tale “Ahewáuwen”, the innovative Berlin quartet Bassa invites you to listen to the wondrous story and the musical images composed for it and to indulge your own imagination.
Miriam Erttmann – Violin
Hannes Daerr – clarinet, bass clarinet
Takashi Peterson – guitar
Tobias Fleischer – double bass
Judica Albrecht – narrator
Ahewáuwen (Miriam Erttmann)
Gestrandet (Miriam Erttmann)
Milonga Loca (2016)
Luz y Sombra
City by night. Misty windows. Dimmed light. Weathered houses. Crackling air. Lively bustle. Entwined couples. Bittersweet sweat. Angelic figures. Scratched parquet. Mischievous laughter. Glowing energy. Black coffee. Red wine. Diabolic scoundrels. Sparkling eyes. Pulsating life. Berlin? Buenos Aires? Astor Piazzolla!
Luz y Sombra invites you to a crazy milonga in the mysterious dusk of the big city. Combining lyrical melodies with percussive chords and sharp glissandi, the three classically trained musicians present Piazzolla’s Tango Nuevo in their very own way.
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Kymia Kermani – clarinet
Katja Steinhäuser – piano
Milonga del Angel (Astor Piazzolla)
Milonga Loca (Astor Piazzolla)
Tango Azul (2015)
Bassa
Blue tango in the mysterious light of dusk. The Berliner ensemble Bassa wraps its audiences in the soft cover of twilight, sweetly seducing us with elegant sound as we dance into the world of dreams.
The sophisticated and gracefully woven compositions of these four musicians bring the magic of moonlight to Berlin bars, lounges, milonga dance floors, and the streets of the city with wondrous enchantment.
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Hannes Daerr – clarinet/bass clarinet
Takashi Peterson – guitar
Sebastian Klose – double bass
Pez Payaso (Miriam Erttmann)
Tango Azul (Sebastian Klose)
Home In The Sky (2015)
Blackbird and Spenser
The debut album “Home in the Sky” by singer-songwriter duo Blackbird and Spenser brings stories to life. It was successfully financed through a crowd funding campaign.
We are immersed into the Northern elegance of Hamburg, and confronted with the diversity of Berlin in all its ugly beauty.
The two voices of Miriam Erttmann an Hannes Klock blend and take us to a place beside the crackling campfire of times past in the American country and folk tradition. Their subtle lyrics are accompanied by skillful violin and steel guitar arrangements.
Miriam Erttmann – vocals, piano, violin, rhodes, mellotron, carillon
Hannes Klock – vocals, guitar, steel guitar, banjo
I Can’t Sing Anymore (Miriam Erttmann/Hannes Klock)
Stuck in the Wall (Hannes Klock/Miriam Erttmann)
Luz y Sombra (2012)
Luz y Sombra
With its own arrangements for the special instrumentation of violin, clarinet and piano, Luz y Sombra manages to illuminate the extensive facets of Astor Piazzolla’s Tangos.
Piazzolla’s work tells stories about the Tango, its characters and a lot more: scenes of his youth in jazzy New York, his studies of classical composition in Paris and his struggle for recognition in his homeland full of traditional and conservative tangueros.
The album of the three musicians from Berlin shows the bright and the dark sides of an exciting life, of good and evil and of never ending hope.
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Franziska Orso – clarinet
Katja Steinhäuser – piano
Libertango (Astor Piazzolla)
Romance del Diablo (Astor Piazzolla)
Tempo: Pasíon! (2012)
Bassa
Full of travel jitters Bassa embarks upon an exciting journey into the new world of tomorrow’s Tango. There, the group experiences a time of passion, spiced with moments full of joy and bittersweet memories. Eyes closed and hearts pounding, the musicians look forward to adventures awaiting them in exotic places and uncharted territories. Only to become aware of their velocity with a glance out of the window – Tempo: Pasión!
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Hannes Daerr – clarinet, bass clarinet
Takashi Peterson – guitar
Alexander Semrow – bass
Johann von Schubert – drums
Locomotiv (Miriam Erttmann)
On and On (Miriam Erttmann)
Medialuna (2010)
Bassa
Medialuna presents instrumental music of imaginative fantasy, enticing listeners into the late hours of the night. Those who surrender to its temptation will be artfully bewitched, forgetting everyday reality for an enchanted spell.
Bassa immerses the audience into an emotional world of music and lets the atmosphere speak for itself. The quintet finds its inspiration in various musical styles and cultures. With charm and sophistication, the five passionate musicians take tango, jazz, and world music into a new style of their own: Tangomondo.
Miriam Erttmann – violin
Beatrix Becker – clarinet, bass clarinet
Takashi Peterson – guitar
Alexander Semrow – bass
Sven Elze – percussion
A la Tienne (Miriam Erttmann)
Medialuna (Bassa)
Berlin Tango (2009)
Bassa
Berlin Tango is tango from Berlin.
Here the tango dances day and night through the streets. It is surrounded by mediterranean flair, is enchanted by nordic sophistication and is captivated by oriental temperament.
As his companions, the musicians of Bassa go on a journey and tell with their music about faraway countries and foreign cultures, without leaving their homeland.
Miriam Erttmann – Violin
Beatrix Becker – clarinet, bass clarinet
Takashi Peterson – guitar
Alexander Semrow – electric bass
Sven Elze – Percussion
Il Segreto Triste (Takashi Peterson)
Smoothie Tango (Takashi Peterson)
Anklänge
Das Mädchen spricht
In her new project “Das Mädchen spricht” (The Girl Speaks), Miriam Erttmann has created an album that will appeal to lovers of both romantic art songs and German pop music.
With great sensitivity, she arranges and interprets a selection of favourite songs by Clara and Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf. She reverently adapts the compositions in such a way that they are placed in a contemporary context without losing their emotional core. It is about fulfilled and unfulfilled love, about loneliness and bliss –
and the beauty of unadorned simplicity.
Contact
Miriam Erttmann
info(at)miriamerttmann.de