Name: Stegreif Orchestra
Interviewees: Sebastian Steinhilber (Viola), Bertram Burkert (Guitar), Anne-Sophie Bereuter (Violin), Nikola Djurica (clarinet), Julia Bilat (cello), Lorenz Blaumer (violin), Sebastian Lange (saxophone)
Nationality: German
Current event: Stegreif Orchestra will perform at Detect Classic Festival which took place August 11th-13th 2023 at Bröllin castle in Fahrenwalde, Germany. More information here. At the event, Stegreif Orchestra presented a brand new performance. The aim of Stegreif – The Improvising Symphony Orchestra is to demonstrate new ways in which a contemporary orchestra can appear today: cross-genre musicians play without sheet music, without conductors, freely moving in space, and improvise based on free adaptations of symphonic music.

If you enjoyed this Stegreif Orchestra interview and would like to find out more about the ensemble and their music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram, and Facebook.

When did you first start getting interested in musical improvisation?

Sebastian Steinhilber: Actually just when I met Stegreif for the first time!

Focusing on improvisation can be an incisive transition. Aside from musical considerations, there can also be personal motivations for looking for alternatives. Was this the case for you, and if so, in which way?

Nikola Djurica: Studying classical music for more than 20 years made me realize how freeing and intuitive improvisation can be.

Connecting with other people in the moment on an instrument you spent years mastering, is truly rewarding.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to improvisation? Do you see yourself as part of a tradition or historic lineage?

Nikola Djurica: Ideas change as fast as the weather on a mountain. Key ideas stay for a certain timeframe, style or genre but when improvising freely, the mind and its creativity are let loose to roam.

What was your own learning curve / creative development like when it comes to improvisation - what were challenges and breakthroughs?

Julia Bilat: I was done with playing always from notes, so I had a strong need to improvise. Unfortunately, there was no room for that in the classical school.

Tell me about your instrument and/or tools, please. How would you describe the relationship with it? What are its most important qualities and how do they influence the musical results and your own performance?

Julia Bilat: It's a string instrument with a strong classical connotation. I’m struggling with it, trying to find my own way of using the cello and putting a performance aspect into it. It’s challenging.

It’s like a long-time marriage - I got married with a cello when I was 7 years old and I never could give it up. :-)

Can you talk about a work, event or performance in your career that's particularly dear to you? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?

Lorenz Blaumer: During the last year, we had the chance to hold a series of open workshops for the orchestra in which we could learn from each other and develop our techniques and generally a deeper common understanding in the fields of composition, interpretation, improvisation and movement.

As an unplanned result of this work, we created a new program called #improphonie in which we try to improvise a symphony from scratch influenced by the room and the audience as much as our experience of making music together.

The performances in the Theater im Delphi or the Säälchen in Berlin were moments of such deep connection with the audience as well as between the musicians, of honest fragility, openness and togetherness that I never experienced before in this way.

How do you feel your sense of identity influences your collaborations? Do you feel as though you are able to express yourself more fully in solo mode or, conversely, through the interaction with other musicians? Are you “gaining” or “sacrificing” something in a collaboration?

Lorenz Blaumer: I have experienced beautiful and dull moments both in collective settings and in solo moments. Part of the fun of the creative process is that you never really know what is going to happen, even if you refine your techniques and approaches.

I generally tend to feel more creative in collective settings and feel like the probability of being surprised by my own ideas and the musical outcome is much higher in collaborations. I like to spin ideas around in a group until the idea seems to develop its own will and leads you in a new, sometimes surprising direction. In these situations my sense of identity doesn't seem important anymore and these categories of "sacrifice" or "gain" lose their meaning.

But to create the conditions for these collective creative processes, the personal identities of the people collaborating do matter very much as together they shape the room in which this magic can happen.

Derek Bailey defined improvising as the search for material which is endlessly transformable. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his perspective, what kind of materials have turned to be particularly transformable and stimulating for you?

Bertram Burkert: I think hearing melodies and harmonies that I like - in records, I love, singers I love - and getting to a point where it feels effortless to directly transfer those to my instrument is the key for me. I always struggle with all the „structures“ or „harmonic figures“ I learn. I almost never hear a Major7 Arpeggio as a melody - but I used to play it a lot because practised it so much.

In a way, it is super helpful to get some harmonic overview and learn the paths of your instrument - through different keys and modulations. But I think Major7 arpeggio shouldn’t become the „source of inspiration“ - the music itself, great performances, feelings, folk songs are more stimulating for me.

When you're improvising, does it actually feel like you're inventing something on the spot – or are you inventively re-arranging patterns from preparations, practise or previous performances?

Bertram Burkert: It’s different. The more I listen to t others or myself, the more I invent.

I think the brain and fingers are re-combining things they know. It’s not that you find a new scale or harmonic theory every time you play. But there are unique musical places that you find, visit, and forget.

There is beauty all around and with improvisation, it’s so joyful to step into those unknown fields.

To you, are there rules in improvisation? If so, what kind of rules are these?

Sebastian Lange: The only rule I have is that I really want to play honestly.

In a live situation, decisions between creatives often work without words. How does this process work – and how does it change your performance compared to a solo performance?

Sebastian Lange: For me, this situation isn’t that different to a conversation with words. If there is another person in the same room it will influence the energy in the room.

And then this situation follows the same rules as you would speak to the person. You simply have to find a common ground while playing and listening together.

There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? In which way is it different between your solo work and collaborations?

Anne-Sophie Bereuter: My ideal state of mind for creating is a state where I’m full of trust in myself and my colleagues.

The most important thing for me is, whether I’m open enough to really LISTEN - to listen to my own intuition and to my colleagues before I judge or make an assumption.

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and performance and what are some of your strategies and approaches of working with them?

Anne-Sophie Bereuter: Sound is shaped by the space it’s created in and is also dependent on the performance and closeness to the audience. Combining all these parameters is essential for our work.

We try to figure out, how we can create a very intimate setting soundwise and stagewise. Discovering the venue we’ll perform in like a playground is beneficial for that.

In a way, improvisations remind us of the transitory nature of life. What, do you feel, can music and improvisation express and reveal about life and death?

Anne-Sophie Bereuter: Of course! What if not the arts can express life and death?

Music is connected to breathing. Music is a way to express the sound of our hearts. Every sound resembles bringing something to life and letting it die again.