Basklarinet Festijn: Louis Sclavis, Rudi Mahall, Tobias Klein, Oguz Büyükberber, Fie Schouten & Lothar Ohlmeier

The Basklarinet Festijn celebrates the beauty of the bass clarinet, the characterful, versatile instrument with its distinctive sonorous tone. The festival emphasizes current music, from contemporary classical to jazz. On this special night six great (bass) clarinet players will perform in small line-ups and a big tutti-closer, played not only on bass clarinet but also double bass clarinet, basset horn and clarinet. The six bass clarinet players are:

Louis Sclavis 
Born and raised in Lyon, Louis Sclavis was already involved in the musicians collective Arfi when he was young. He toured the whole world, recorded many albums and played with a lot of different but great musicians. An excellent technique, clarity and precision makes his him one of the best (bass) clarinettists in the free jazz and avant-garde for more than 40 years.

Rudi Mahall
Mahall is a German jazz bass clarinettist. He performs many projects and released albums with painist Aki Takase. Mahall collaborated on Alexander von Schlippenbach’s recording of the full works of Thelonious Monk, released by the prestigieus Swiss label Intaks Records. In 2011 he received the SRW-jazz prize. Mahall founded Der Rote Bereich in 1992 and won the Neuen Deutschen Jazzpreis with this band in 2006.

Fie Schouten 
As a specialist in new music Fie Schouten performs often as a soloist and with her own projects. Many composers wrote unique compositions for her, many of which she recorded and released. Schouten is artistic leader of the Basklarinet Festijn and main subject teacher of the Prins Claus Conservatory in Groningen.

Tobias Klein
The focus of bass clarinettist, saxophonist and composer Tobias Klein is on the area where improvised music touches jazz, non-western music, contempary and electronic music. Tobias is artistic leader of the famous ensemble Spinifex, which he performed with around Europe and recorded many albums with. He is also artistic leader of the Basklarinet Festijn.

Oguz Büyükberber
Oguz Büyükberber is a bass clarinettist, composer and improviser performing often on the biggest European festivals like the NN North Sea Jazz Festival, Akbank Istanbul and the London Jazz Festival. Büyükberber is always on the lookout for new structures, compositions and improvisations. He uses video and live-electronics often, and received our Carte Blanche in 2012.

Lothar Ohlmeier
During more than 25 years Lothar performed and recorded with a big number of respected band leaders in jazz and improvised music, like Jorrit Dijkstra, Benoit Delbecq, Jim Black, Ingrid Laubrock, Steve Arguelles, Julie Sassoon and Harry Spaarnay. He is known for his excellent control, frasing and mastery of contemporary classicial music and jazz/free impro, and is always looking for new musical ways to experiment.