Biography
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Margrit Schenker
Born in 1954 in Marbach LU. Resides in Zurich.
Specialized in piano, accordion, organ, as well as composition and improvisation.
Organist at St.Martin’s in Effretikon (canton of Zurich)
Piano teacher diploma from the Lucerne Conservatory with Hubert Harry
Concert diploma at the Winterthur Conservatory with Christoph Lieske
Training in improvisation with Irene Schweizer, Zurich.
Encounter with the composer and accordionist Pauline Oliveros.
Artist in Residence at the Pauline Oliveros Foundation in Kingston N.Y. U.S.A. (1993-1994)
Organization of Deep Listening workshops in Switzerland with Pauline Oliveros, Ione and Heloise Gold
FIFTY SONGS 50 short pieces for accordion and voice.
Performances with Pauline Oliveros:at Bucknell University Pennsylvania, at the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C., at the Swiss Institute in New York, at the Kleintheater Lucerne, at the accordion festival in Krems, Austria, at the Prague Castle, at Lincoln Center in New York (Lunar Opera)
ANNÄHERUNG (Convergence) Performance for accordion, tape recorder, voice on the subject of “Mother and Daughter”, Community Center Riesbach, Zurich.
VOIX DE DEUX Performance with Dorothea Rust, dance. Seefeld dance projekt, AUA Festival Basel.
A CONVERGENCE OF DISTANCES by Malcolm Goldstein with 10 dancers (male and female) and KRAK in the Rote Fabrik, Zurich.
PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Solo performance.
50 SONGS at the Forum Claque Baden, Frauenraum Reithalle Bern, Musikpodium of the City of Zurich, Club School St. Gall, Frauenkunstforum Bern, andere Musik Festival, Kreuzlingen.
HOLY AND CRAZY Solo program for accordion, voice, performance, Teufelhof Basel, Burgbachkeller Zug.
GESCHICHTEN (Stories) for women’s choir. A commission from the Singfrauen Zurich. Premiere September 1998 in the Weisser Wind Zurich. Furore Verlag Kassel.
KRAK CD with pictures, with the Zurich clarinetist Valentin Vecellio and the visual artist Susanna Nüesch
BENEDICTA Scenario for mixed choir a cappella, soprano, flute, marching drum, organ and three masked dancers. A commission from the contrapunkt choir. Premiere February 2000 in the Elisabethenkirche Basel. Furore Verlag Kassel.
MOMENTS OF DEPARTURE Solo dance pieces with accordion, voice and video. With the dancer Jeanette Engler and the artist Margrit Schmid. Tanzhaus Wasserwerk Zurich, Olten Dance Festival, Grabenhalle St.Gallen.
BAUMKLANG (Arboreal Sounds) piano solos for students. Furore Verlag, Kassel.
SPIEL himmelerde (PLAY heavenearth) a chamber orchestra tale for soprano, flute, organ and a female speaker. UA 2003 Kartause Ittingen, Kulturhaus Helferei Zurich, Kapuzinerkloster Rapperswil with Susanne Oldani, soprano, Fränzi Badertscher, flute, Margrit Schenker, organ and Stina Durrer as speaker.
BIOSPHÄRISCHE KLÄNGE (Biospheric Sounds)
Dances from Marbach, Schüpfheim, Escholzmatt. Improvisations, calls to prayer, yodels, baroque arias with Barbara Unternährer and Christa Unternährer, voice, Thomas Unternährer oboe und English horn and Margrit Schenker, organ. At the parish churches in Marbach, Escholzmatt, and Schüpfheim.
THAT GAVE BIRTH TO THE SKY a cycle of Anne Blonstein’s poems, set to music. For 10-stringed guitar and voice, UA 2005 Kulturhaus Helferei Zurich, Burgbachkeller Zug, Marianischer Saal Lucerne, with Eva Nievergelt, voice and Urs Güntensperger, guitar.
KLAGELIEDER
For voice and percussion. Text: Book of Lamentations.. UA Catholic Church St.Martin, Effretikon, 2007 with Barbara Unternährer, voice, Ivan Manzanilla, percussion.
HUT, RAD, SCHILF, BILD (Hat, Wheel, Reeds, Image)
Learning to read, then and now – a performance with text and music.
UA on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Kantonsschule in Küsnacht, Zurich.November 2007.
with Jean Knutti, tenor, Eva Boesch, cello, Rahel Heid, piano, and three school children from Küsnacht.
….die ihr durchs leben geht … (… you, who traverse life …)
sacred music for women’s choir and improvisations
Vox Feminae women’s choir and the Duo KRAK (Margrit Schenker, organ and Valentin Vecellio, clarinets)
Franziska Welti, conductor
FRAUEN KOMPONIEREN FÜR VIOLINE UND KLAVIER (Women Compose For Violin And Piano)
with Christine Ragaz, violin and Margrit Schenker, piano
Two premieres of works by Pauline Oliveros (Magnetic Trails) and Margrit Schenker (for violin and piano) as well as works by Katharina Weber (A Mozartian Prelude, 2006) and Germaine Tailleferre (Sonata, 1921) French Church, Bern, Kulturhaus Helferei, Zurich and Gare du Nord, Basel (2009)
FÜR BLOCKFLÖTE UND ORGEL (For Recorder And Organ)
Gebrauchsmusik for religious services in 5 movements for soprano, alto and tenor flutes and organ.
GRÜNE WORTSCHLIEREN (Green Word Flows)
For mixed choir and baritone saxophone. Musical version of a poem from the Zurich author Elisabeth Wandeler-Deck’s Controcantos. The work premiered with the Vocativ Choir under the direction of Heini Roth, November 2009 in Zurich and Stäfa.
ENTLEBUCHER KLÄNGE (Sounds Of The Entlebuch)
CD project with dances and yodels from the Entlebuch with autochthonous musicians. The CD was originally presented in Marbach, Escholzmatt, and Schüpfheim, 2010
KRAK meets CAGE
Sonatas and Interludes by John Cage for prepared piano (Margrit Schenker), texts by John Cage, concepts by Valentin Vecellio for basset horn (Valentin Vecellio) und accordion (Margrit Schenker). Recitation and performance with Gerhard van den Bergh, 2010, Theater Rigiblick,Zurich, Kantonsschule Küsnacht.
TENTATIV
CD project with the guitarist Urs Güntensperger. New music for 10-stringed guitar with new works by Daniel Mouthon, Martin Derungs and Margrit Schenker.
BAZAAR
For mixed choir, soloists, accordion and contrabass. Premiere November 2012 in Ljubljana at the Slovak Philharmonic with the Ave Choir under the direction of Jerica Bukovez
THE VISBYPROJECT
Oktober 2013: Residency as Composer in Residence im International Centre for Composers in Visby, Gotland, Sweden.
April 2015: A collaboration with the „Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators“ and the Swiss Writer Elisabeth Wandeler-Deck. A reading with texts by Elisabeth Wandeler-Deck and improvised music by Margrit Schenker.
April 2016: Premiere in Visby of a new composition by Margrit Schenker for mixed choir a cappella. Texts by Elisabeth Wandeler-Deck.
RABENSCHNUR
A composition with texts written by the Slovenian poet, Meta Kusar and the Swiss writers Wanda Schmid und Ruth Loosli. Premiered in the fall 2016 in Küsnacht, Zürich, Basel and Luzern by Eva Nievergelt, soprano and Bettina Boller, violin and Margrit Schenker, piano.
BLACKBOX
Commissioned by the Kantonsschule Küsnacht ZH as a part of the project Synapse17.
Pieces for various ensembles (Atem 1-10, Meditation 1-5, Der Narr, Der Narr träumt, der Narr rennt, Caminar, In Honorem) Premiere April 2017 at the Kantonsschule Küsnacht near Zurich.
TOCCATA
Commissioned by the guitarist Urs Güntensperger. For 13-stringed guitar. Premiere planned.
DIE RIESIN TREIBT SCHABERNACK
Commissioned by the pianist Katharina Weber in the context for a memorial dedicated to the deceased American Composer Pauline Oliveros (*1932–2016) at the Conservatory in Bern. With Christine Ragaz, violin, Regula Gerber, double bass and Katharina Weber, piano. Premiere 26. 4. 2018
BIRDCALL
Commissioned by the London based choir „Vocal Constructivists“ directed by Jane Alden. Premiered in the context of a tribute to Pauline Oliveros | 27 May, 2018 | Café Oto London and 9 June, 2018 Lumen Church London.
MONADEN
15 Piano Pieces. Premiere 2020 in the context of the piano recital ..Monaden.. by the Swiss pianist Dominik Blum in Zürich, Luzern, Bern und Aarau.
FRAUEN – LEBEN – FRAGMENTE
Premiere planned in the context of the Kirchenklangfestes cantars 21 (Version light): 29. Mai 2021 in der Jugendkirche Einsiedeln. With Nuria Kessler, soprano, Esther Hobi, organ, Margrit Schenker, Composition und Accordion, Esther Rüthemann, Speaker and Daniela Riedener, actor.
LUFT ERDE FEUER WASSER – für clarinet solo (2020), dedicated to Stephan Britt
ENDANGERED – a Birdlitany for Harpsicord (2021), on behalf of Chau-Yee Lo, London
PALINDROM Baustein 1–5 ( UA 2022), for Ensemble EndWend
NATURE – for soprano, English horn and piano, on behalf of Ensemble Nushka, Bern (Lara Morger, chant, Lisa Anna Gross, English horn, Marion Gross, Piano). Premiere planned on October 18, 2023, Yehudi Menuhin Forum, Bern