thoughts
Over the last few years:
I have found myself moving more and more into crossover projects with a visual-moving aspect layered into the music itself.
In early 2017 I crossed paths the „anarko“-flamenco dancer Bernardo de Barros which was the spark that awakened my interest in the combination of music and dance. After touring with his project Anarkoflamenco (a mixture between flamenco and jazz music) through Spain and Portugal I was inspired to form my own group SOUND IN MOTION with the freestyle dancer Toschkin Schalnich. This project however, was much more focused on the (free) Improvisation of both dancer and musician. The culmination of the project was in January 2018 when SOUND IN MOTION was invited to perform in Copenhagen for one week at the Bådteatret in their series called Ubåden.
One thing leads to another:
A short time later I had the opportunity to collaborate with the performance artist Mathias Ringgenberg (Swiss Performance Award 2018) a.k.a „PRICE“ and the Los Angeles producer Cecile Believe on a project called „melodies are so far my best friend“. The result was touring different theaters and festivals around Europe such as Actoral Festival Marseille, Festival Performatik Brussels, STUK Leuven, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Impulstanz Festival Wien, among others. From 2021 until 2023 we released three music albums and worked on another collaboration called “mantras for a club” in 2021.
Off to the theatre:
From 2017 through to 2019 I was hired by Theater Basel to play the piano for their production of Woyzeck, staged by Ulrich Rasche with the biggest of the shows being at the May 2018 Berliner Festspiele. The music, composed by Monika Roscher, is very minimal with no room for improvisation. Finally, after a run of more than 25 shows, the production has moved to the Residenztheater München.
The heart still burns for „Music Only Projects“:
2019 saw a collaboration with NU DAG and the release of their debut album „ABSOLUT“, which could only be described as genre crossing. The work on the album as well as working on different music projects which focuses on blending and mixing acoustic and electronic sounds, are keeping my musical ideas and influences fresh and evolving.
facts
Sebastian Hirsig gratuated “summa cum laude” in 2015 with a Master in jazz piano, composition and producing from Jazzcampus Basel.
He studied with Lester Menezes, Hans Feigenwinter, Aydin Esen, Daniel Dettwiler, Uli Rennert, Malcolm Braff, Bänz Oester, Andy Scherrer, Lisette Spinnler, Jorge Rossy, Guillermo Klein and completed masterclasses with David Kikoski, Aron Goldberg, Dado Moroni, Gregory Hutchinson, Esperanza Spalding, Larry Grenadier, Chris Cheek and more.
A wide range of projects crossing both musical and artistic genres have brought Sebastian to many different countries to perform such as Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey, and more.