I have joined this amazing new band: These Idle Hands. It's a mix of alt-folk, contemporary acoustic. I love their sound.
Check it out here!
My concert appeared in Jornal de Notícias Magazin "Evasoes" as Tip of the Day. What a great honour, even though they spelt my name wrong
We got a great review of our new CD "Embroidered Threads" in Folker Magazin. Here's a translation:
This album is one of those rare examples of how music in its simple beauty can go straight to your heart and can make you yearning for more. The New Zealand musician Sue Ferrers, a studied violinist, manages to fascinate the listener with a selection of fourteen instrumental pieces for an hour, with the spellbinding, spherical sounds of her Nyckelharpa and accompanied by the German guitarist Steffen Huther. From Cantigas by Alfonso X called El Sabio from the thirteenth century, onto Swedish Polskas and to the first "Gnossienne" by Erik Satie completes the arc. In addition to the tasteful choice of the pieces, the ability of the two instrumentalists is convincing. They do not put their virtuosity in the foreground, but rather with understatement give the beautiful melodies room to unfold. They bring the music to breathe, with arrangements that always put the music in the foreground. The fact that this album is a real pleasure is also due to the excellent production, which depicts nyckelharpa and guitar in an extremely vibrant way.
It was a wonderful evening in the Kurhaus in Heubach to release our new CD "Embroidered Threads". Our label (acousticland) boss, Stefan Scheid, also does wonders in the kitchen, and provided a fantastic buffet. We were joined on stage by Michael Gambacurta on Percussion and Matten Boettius on Double Bass.
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It was an absolutely amazing honour to play in the famous Mendelssohn Saal in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. It was a sold out audience, and we played completely unplugged. What an unbelievable acoustic in there!! Photos by Claudia Helmert.
We recorded, mixed, mastered and packaged our new CD "Embroidered Threads" for Nyckelharpa and Guitar. There are two guest musicians playing too: Matten Boetius on Double Bass and Michael Gambacurta on Percussion. Here's the track list:
1.Cantiga de Santa Maria 142
2. Zakarias Jannsons Polska
3. God rest ye merry gentlemen, Pavane
4. Polska efter Byss-Kalle
5. Ed dodium
6. The Serra of Visions
7. Gnossienne No. 1
8. Naïveté
9. Cantiga de Santa Maria 167: Quen quér que na Virgen fía
10. Sword Dance
11. Cantiga de Santa Maria 353: Quen a omagen da Virgen & Cantiga 77: Da que Déus mamou o leite do séu peito
12. Stenselepolskan
13. Angela goes to the fields
14. Hälleforsnäsarn
I recorded with the Germanicana Singer/Songwriter Wolf Schubert-K. this year. Here is a "Making Of" Video.
Schlosskapelle, Schloss Strünkede, Herne on Sunday 23.7.2017. Here you can watch a video.
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AROHA played at this years "Folk im Schlosshof" in Schloss Strünkede, Herne. It was a great evening, and we got to play a song together with Saltfishforty from the Orkney Islands: n. Here you can watch the video.
I have some Italian roots, so I was ecstatic this year to play in Italy. We were invited to play at an event in our sister city, Lastra e Signa near Florence. The next day we played in a modern concrete church in Pontassieve. The sound of the nyckelharpa was amazing.
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It was an absolute pleasure to play in the beautiful cellar of Die Fabrik on Thursday 8th June. Here is a video to watch
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It was really pleased to have the opportunity to play in the Valentinus Chapel that was built in 1440. Thanks go to Matthias Roth and Father Roper for the organisation and Peter Panknin for the great newspaper article. A huge THANK YOU goes to Günter Maier for the fantastic video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPFJ_dyzVYk
Am Sonntagabend 12. März spielte ich mit dem großartigen Germanicana Singer-Songwriter Wolf Schubert-K. Zusammen mit Willy Wagner am Kontrabass haben wir in der wunderschöne Salon in Eltville viel Spass gehabt. Biber Herrmann und Anja Sachs haben den ersten Teil gespielt und nach einem leckeren Süppchen dürften wir auf die Bühne kommen. Das Programm war gemischt, alte Traditionals wie "Wayfaring Stranger" und auch Schubert-K Originals wie "Free Spirit" und "Could it Be". Ich freue mich sehr auf unserer anstehende Gigs am 1. Mai in Walluf-Wiesbaden und am 23. Mai in Die Fabrik.
I had three gigs with The Lasses from Amsterdam, Holland here in Hessen. They pla yold American and British folk songs, where the fiddle fitted perfectly. Here you can see a video from the gig in Maximal, Rodgau.
On the eve of the inauguration of the 45th US President there was a concert for the "Other America". I played alongside great local musicians Candy Jane, Double Dylans, Jen Plater, Wolf Schubert-K, Markus Rill, Thomas Waldherr and Biber Herrmann. It was a great night of protest songs and the press liked it too!
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I'm happy to announce a special concert together with a Conservatorium colleague of mine, Anthony Garcia.
We will be performing for the first time, even though we live on different sides of the planet. Alongside composers such as Ortiz, Satie and Bach, Improvisations and original works by Garcia specially for this performance, we will be performing new interpretations of Sephard melodies.
"Sound Across Oceans" is a modern reflection of antique sounds, forms and styles.
Wednesday 9. November, 7pm.
Haus der Musik, Ober-Rodener-Str. 47, 63110 Rodgau
Karten: 10€ Erwachsene, 5€ Jugendliche. VVK: Freie Musikschule Rodgau, Ober-Rodener-Str. 47, 63110 Rodgau
Es war ein schöner Abend mit Freunden: Jule Bauer, Rolf Bussalb, Ian Kimber, Klara Bussalb und Steffen Huther.
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Ich habe mit Janus im Schloss Broich für Castle Rock Open-Air gespielt. Was für eine unglaubliche Location! Und das Wetter war Spitze! Hier sind Fotos davon.
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Ich habe mit dem Metall-Band, Beyond the Black, für "Leipzig zeigt Courage" auf der Rathausplatz am 30. April in Leipzig gespielt. Es war ein Akoustik-Gig: Gesang, Keyboards, Akustik-Gitarre, Violine und Cello. Es wurde sogar im Fernseher NDR übertragen. Es hat so viel Spß gemacht, Metall zu spielen!
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Die Valentinuskapelle wurde 1438 gebaut. Was für eine tolle Location ein Nyckelharpa-Konzert zu spielen! Hier ist ein Video von dem Konzert.
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On Wednesday 24th May I was fortunate to be invited to play in the Pädagogkeller in Darmstadt to celebrate the legendary Bob Dylan's 75th Birthday. I performed "All along the watchtower" with Steffen Huther and "Oh sister", "Little Sadie", "One more cup of coffee", and "Meet me in the morning" with Tanja Ebbecke and Steffen Huther. For the grand finale, together with the DoubleDylans, Markus Rill and Dan Dietrich, we finished the show with "I will be released". A reporter for the Darmstädter Echo wrote a nice review from the concert and called me a violin virtuoso!!!! Here you can read the article (but it's in German!)
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On Saturday 14th May in Leipzig the cinema version of our Goethes Erben concert "Menschenstille"was shown on the silver screen. It was a proud moment and great to see most of the Goethes Erben gang again.
And now the film is to be shown in Cologne at their Cinema Night!
In Dieburg on the 6th June there was lots of craziness on this sultry Summer evening.
Photo by Oliver Avemarie
Ich freue mich, dass meine erste Nyckelharpa CD fertig ist! Das Cover wurde von meiner alten Freundin, Jo Dickson, gemalt. Wir kennen uns seit wir 13 und 14 waren. Mitgespielt haben Steffen Huther und Rolf Bussalb an der Gitarre. Aufgenommen wurde die CD im Lofthaus Studio Darmstadt von Mark Rückert.
Hier sind die Track-Titeln:
In 2015 I'm touring with the band, Goethes Erben. We are doing five shows in Germany and Belgium. Here is the info and a sneak preview of "Ironie im Plattenbau":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdyF3Iyh1RE&feature=youtu.be
Am Mittwoch den 27. August habe ich ein Konzert für die 3. und 4. Klasse der Silkwood School, Gold Coast, Australien gegeben. Alle Schüler lernen ein Streichinstrument. Ich habe verschiedene Stücke auf der Geige gespielt, zum Thema Jahreszeiten habe ich "Frühling" von Die vier Jahreszeiten von Vivaldi gespielt, "Smoke on the Water" und die Kinder gefragt von welchen Band es stammt. Ich habe auch den Nyckelharpa vorgespielt. Sie fanden den Klang besonders bezaubernd und haben viele intelligente Fragen dazu gestellt. Ein Paar Kinder haben es auch sogar ausprobiert. Es war eine wunderschöne Nachmittag und wir hatten allen ganz viel Spass miteinander!
I had the great pleasure of performing this year at the Amphi Festival in Cologne with Persephone at the Theaterstage am Tanzbrunnen from 17:30 to 18:30. Later that evening as part of the 10th Anniversary Celebrations of the festival I played Nyckelharpa with Sonja Kraushofer on the "Call the Ship 2 Night" event, with Andrè Wahl on piano.
The ensemble "Rückkehr ins Niemandsland" of Goethes Erben! There were two great concerts.
My students and I were pleased to play a Christmas concert at the Heinrich-Böll-school. There were over 100 players being. VIVA LA STREICHER!!!
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Ich wurde eingeladen, in der EU Projekt, ENCORE, mit zu spielen. Wir waren 24 Nyckelharpaspieler und -spielerinnen aus 10 europäische Länder. Wir haben am 10. August ein Konzert in Bertinoro Dom, Italien, gegeben.
UPCOMING CONCERTS:
Friday 27th May 9pm
HOLLER (a celebration of Americana)
HOTA, 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217
with These Idle Hands (violin)
Saturday 2nd July 7pm
NATIVES OF BEDLAM
The Cave Inn, 47 Balaclava St, Woolloongabba QLD 4102
Saturday 30th July 7:30pm
THESE IDLE HANDS
Dust Temple, Currumbin Creek Rd, Currumbin Waters QLD 4223
Saturday 15th October
THESE IDLE HANDS
On Higher Ground Festival, Toowoomba
Saturday 28th October 8pm
THESE IDLE HANDS
The Bearded Lady, 138 Boundary St, West End QLD 4101
Tuesday 1st November 12noon
NYCKELHARPA CONCERT
City Hall Ithaca Room
with Evan Clarry, guitar and Bob Harley, double bass
Sunday 24th April 6pm
WORLD NYCKELHARPA DAY
Holy Trinity Church, 141 Brookes Str, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
with Evan Clarry, guitar and Bob Harley, double bass
Tickets: https://bit.ly/3qklH0F
Friday 27th May 9pm
HOLLER (a celebration of Americana)
HOTA, 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217
with These Idle Hands (violin)
Saturday 2nd July 7pm
NATIVES OF BEDLAM
The Cave Inn, 47 Balaclava St, Woolloongabba QLD 4102
