Moon on High

MOON ON HIGH is the collaboration of renown Taiwanese counter-tenor and lutist, Cheng-Ying Chuang with Austrian multi-instrumentalist Herbert Könighofer and pianist Hannah Eisendle. In the trio-formation, the artists explore the ranges between New Music and Jazz, between European and Asian classics and electronics, between free improvisation and composition, rock and baroque.

Herbert Könighofer –  saxes, flutes, vocs, looper, a.o.
Hannah Eisendle – piano, organ, vocs
Cheng-Ying Chuang – counter-tenor, vocs., Liuqin- und Zhongruan-lutes

As manifold as the musical styles the trio elaborates on, is the very special instrumentation: Herbert Könighofer on contra alto-clarinet, tenor- and soprano saxophone, vocals, piano, guitar and electronic looper, Hannah Eisendle with her vocals, piano and organ and Cheng-Ying Chuang on Liuqin- und Zhongruan-lutes and as a counter-tenor/ vocalist.

The 3 musicians gather in order to transcend boundaries: they extract music out of its original context and reshape, combine and interpret it according to their individual conceptions. On various instruments, they explore the sounds of the very moments of their performances and always include the spheres created by the places of performance and the different audiences.

SCREAM Records, S.Rec033, LC 04836

The debut album of the Austrian-Taiwanese trio project captures the encounter of 3 musicians not only deriving from different cultural backgrounds, but also from completely different genres. While Hannah Eisendle is a classic composer and pianist, Cheng-Ying Chuang contributes his expertise and virtuosityboth as a classical European baroque countertenor and traditional Chinese lutist, while Herbert Könighofer adds his experiences as a Jazz musician. By means of improvisation they capture the very moment of their encounters and transcend stylistic boundaries.
order/ download the album on > amazon> itunes or directly via booking@marmota-agentur.com

Tours: 
They have toured Austria together in June 2018 as the premiere of the ambitious project and continued the collaboration with a tour in Taiwan in October 2019. With an extensive tour-schedule with 10 concerts and 2 workshops within eleven days, the musicians had the chance to perform at various exciting locations and to meet various local and international artists. They performed at: Jiang Shan Yi Gai Suo / Hsinchu, Charity Tea & Music event Boksulao / Tamsui, Lin’s culture / Taipei, Forum Music / Taipei, 182 artspace / Tainan, Sound102 / Tainan, at  National Taiwan’s University Centre for the Arts / Taipei, Dadong Culture and Art Center / Kaohsiung, Fo Guang University / Yilan and at Blue Note, Taipei. 

booking

The trio is available for concerts, impro-workshops, collaborations with local artists across genres, and much more – throughout the year upon request.
Please contact booking@marmota-agentur.com.

 

TV Studio-Session at Salzburg’s FS1 (interviews in German):

artist biographies

Herbert Könighofer, multi-instrumentalist. In his project Brian Brain – club audioprovocateur Könighofer collaborates with various renown artists. In his compositions and his spontanous performances, he oscilliates between manifold musical, cultural and thematic aspects. The desire for comfort, the need for withdrawal and reduction to the basics on the one hand and the aspiration towards freedom, interlinking and abundance on the other, are being processed by means of music and translated into musical counter-parts: complex, Zappa-style compositions interact with minimalistic sounds and range from happy tunes to melancholy, challenging and entertaining, self-mockingly and critical. In 2017, Könighofer performed at Delhi Internationals Arts Festival where he encountered Cheng-Ying Chuang and where they could lay the cornerstone for their future collaboration.

Cheng-Ying Chuang
Cheng-Ying read MMus degree in Vocal and Operatic Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire in 2007 and Master degree of Landscape Architecture at University of Pennsylvania at 2003. He was awarded the 2nd prize of 2006 Cecil Drew Oratorio Prize at Birmingham Conservatoire, the Young Star (Voice) of Taipei National Concert Hall in 2008, and Taipei Philharmonic Foundation’s 4th Voice Competition of the Celebration of Arising Stars Festival in 2004. His performances appeared in Taiwan, China, the UK, Germany, France, the US, Canada, and India, in prestigious venues like British Museum, London Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, London’s Asian Music Centre, Beijing West City Cultural Centre, Taipei National Concert Hall, Suzhou Museum etc. He was nominated in 2010 British Chinese “Big Ben Award” and has produced and toured intercultural world music concert series in Edinburgh Fringe and numerous Taiwan’s performance venues. He taught music at the Academy of Music, Suzhou University of Science and Technology and is the artistic director of Musitonik Ensemble, an intercultural World Music group.

Hannah Eisendle
Hannah Eisendle, born in Vienna in 1993, is a composer, pianist and conductor, studying composition (specializing in media composition and applied music) and conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. 2018 she finished her piano studies at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg.

As a pianist Hannah Eisendle is especially interested in the performance of contemporary compositions. She performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and Lied accompanist. International appearances include i.a. the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the Carnegy Hall and the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. She likes to work with artists from different genres, combining styles through improvisation. As a conductor she works as musical assistant for the youth opera productions at the opera house Theater an der Wien.

In her works as a composer Hannah Eisendle takes a great interest in the interaction of visual and acoustic aspects and in cooperations with scientists and artists (theater, dance, literature, fine arts, film). Her works (instrumental and vocal pieces, multimedia compositions, pieces for Big Band, pop songs, and experimental films) have been performed in Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Bratislava, Taipei, Paris, Mexico City and New York.

references

Moon on High has toured Austria in 2018 and Taiwan in 2019. The trio performed and offered workshops at venues such as  Wotruba Church, Vienna, Jiang Shan Yi Gai Suo, Hsinchu, Charity Tea & Music event at the gardens of Boksulao, Tamsui, Lin’s culture and Forum Music, Taipei, 182 artspace, Tainan, National Taiwan’s University Centre for the Arts, Taipei,  Dadong Culture and Art Center, Kaohsiung, Fo Guang University, Yilan or at Blue Note, Taipei, and many more.

The Austria tour had friendly been supported by:

In the course of the Austria tour, Cheng-Ying Chuang, Hannah Eisendle and Herbert Könighofer also had the opportunity to record at Mushroom Studios/x-Art .

The Taiwan tour had friendly been supported by: