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News
26th July 2010
Our "Chilli con Tango" CD is sold out now!
25th July 2010
As a summer special, the Calace-CD is only 14,- Euro. There are only a few left! Please, visit our cd-shop.
20th July 2010
Our next concert on 22nd July will be in Frankfurt.
13th July 2010
The new cd-shop is online!
19th June 2010
Our next concert will be on 1st July in Laubach. Alessandro Sbrizzi from the Netherlands will join us on organ for this one.
Highlights
Festival in Laubach
On 1st July 2010 we performed at the 18th Internationales Orgel- und Drehorgelfestival 2010 in Laubach together with Italian organist Alessandro Sbrizzi. It was our second appearance there, as we had performed there 10 years ago already. This time we presented baroque music on box organ, baroque mandolin, arciliuto and baroque lute.
Chilli con Tango CD sold out!
Since July 2010 our Chilli con Tango CD from 2000 is sold out. As a reminiscence we've put together the details of this recording.
With music by Hans Boll, Beth Anderson, Egberto Gismonti, Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski, Robert Lombardo and Jaime M. Zenamon
Since we founded the Duo Ahlert & Schwab, contemporary music and the contact to composers are steady parts of our
work, and we could widen our repertoire by many pieces that were composed especially for us.
Although the combination of mandolin an guitar is a part of musical life for more than 200 years now, it is the
compositions of our century which make these two instruments meet on one new equal level of chamber music.
So the idea to inspire composers from our region and abroad for this project which shall document the artistic
level of this contemporary combination grew naturally. It was also important to us that the compositions should
be the composers first work for our combination to provide a great many of new ideas, that the selection of pieces
should cause a great stilistic diversity and that it should be accessible not only for experts in contemporary music
but for everyone.
"There are really magical moments"
Ernesto Cordero
"This recording is in many ways original, impressive and also a remarkable enrichment for mandolin-guitar-duos"
Gitarre aktuell
"This recording's title makes an appetite for food ... and listening"
Kirchenzeitung der Diözese Linz, Juni 2001
"With several of the composers contributing their own liner notes, this well-recorded, definitive import comes warmly recommended."
The Hartford Advocate, April 2001
This CD was supported by the "Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Westfälischen Kulturarbeit e.V." and "RWE
Plus" and published by "Antes".
website 3.0
Our website is now online for 10 years! In January 2010 it received its third major update with a new design, CD- and score-shop and direct links to twitter, youtube etc.
Swiss concerts
On 10th, 17th and 21st May 2009 we performed Astor Piazzolla's concerto for mandolin, guitar and orchestra with "Das Kleine Zürcher Ensemble". All venues were in and around Zurich and had huge audiences.
New mandolin
Since January 2009 Daniel is playing an original mandolin from the 18th century. Most likely, it was built by Antonius Vinaccia in 1769. The first time Daniel played the instrument in public was in our recital on 8th March in Dortmund.
Orgel Plus 2009
On 8th January 2009 we played a concert at the big festival "Orgel plus" in Bottrop in a full church with our organist Alessandro Sbrizzi. The programme featured baroque sonatas for mandolin, archlute and organ. WDR, a German tv station, aired a short report about us and the concert on 7th January in their "Lokalzeit Ruhr".
From the New World
Our article about compositions by US composers has been published in the current edition of Concertino (4/2008)
Bachfestival
On 21st June 2008 we played at a fully sold out house at the Bachfestival in Leipzig. The programme consisted of our reconstruction of sonatas by Weiss and our version of Bach's sonata BWV 1025, which he had based on a solo sonata by Weiss.
Baroque recording
On 12th February 2008 our recording with music by Weiss and Hoffmann was ranking no.30 in the top 100 music bestsellers on amazon.com!
New Recording
In October 2007 our latest recording project "Le Musée" was released. This time, Birgit is presenting an extraordinary solo programme. She has recorded a selection of guitar works by Claude Engel. Already a short time after its release, the CD climbed up to rank 37 in the sales ranks on amazon.de You can order the CD here:
Concert in Switzerland
On 22nd September 2007 we gave our Swiss debut in Basel and premiered the double concerto by Barry Mills. Here is our report:
Concert trip to Italy
From 20th-27th August 2007 we've once again been guests of the international guitar festival in Lagonegro. Here is our report
Recital in Munich
On 30th April 2007 we did a concert in Munich with a special contemporary program. A.o. we premiered Little Guy and Fantasy Variations op.95 by Canadian composer John Fodi, who had come to Munich to attend the performance. We were also very glad to welcome composers Ulrich St.Fauth (Belgium), Wolfgang Zoubek, Robert Delanoff and Herbert Baumann in the audience!
Our baroque music CD is out!
We are very glad to announce that our baroque music recording with sonatas by Weiss and Hoffmann is available now. It has been published by Naxos, and you can buy it in your local store, order it online from amazon or get it directly from us via our CD section.
Duo Ahlert & Schwab in the Netherlands
On 24th September 2006 we gave our joined concert debut in the Netherlands. The venue was a rather unusual one - a former small gambling hall in Rotterdam. The programme consisted of baroque music performed on the lutes. The evening's highlight was Vivaldi's concerto in C-major. Daniel was accompanied by a baroque-ensemble from Den Haag and Birgit at the archlute for this.
May 2006 - a month of festivals
This May was a very busy month. A.o. we performed at three big festivals. On 5th May we played at "Bodenseefestival". This year's motto was "Adel und Bürgertum". Therefore we had programmed baroque and classical music presented on historical instruments. The concert was recorded by SWR for broadcast.
We had already be guests of the German lute society in 2003, and this year on 19th May we were invited to play the opening recital for their 10th anniversary. Just like last time the convention was held in Fuessen.
Finally we participated in the "Europäisches Zupfmusikfestival" in Bamberg. On the first night of the festival we premiered a.o. John Duarte's Partita "Dieci cori" and played the European premiere of "strange attractor" by US composer Timothy Edwards. Edwards had come over here from Chicago on occasion of this performance and so paid a return visit to our US-tour last year
Special Premiere
On 4th December 2005 in Gelsenkirchen we premiered the Concerto da Camera Nr.1 for mandolin, guitar and strings by Rodney Newton. The piece had been written in the 70ies already, yet, this amazing music had to wait for its premiere for almost 30 years. We were very happy about meeting Rodney Newton on that occasion, who had traveled here from London to attend the performance with the Buersches Kammerorchester.
USA-Tour 2005
We had lots of work and lots of fun on our third US tour. Like before it has been a great experience to play there, meet many interesting and lovely people and to enjoy the open friendliness. Find out more here in our report!
"Encore"
December 2004 we have been chosen for ACF's "EncoreProgram". This program supports multiple performances of contemporary compositions. This time the supported piece is "Den Lille Havfrue" by Tyler Kaiser. After our reading session in Minneapolis in 2003 all participating composers had agreed to write new pieces for us. Kaiser's composition is the first one that was finished. "Den Lille Havfrue" will accompany us for the next 18 months. We have premiered the piece on 23rd January 2005 in Datteln.
Concert trip to Italy
From 19th to 29th August 2004 we have been guests of the International Guitar Festival in Lagonegro. Read our short report:
New York Premiere
We gladly continued our collaboration with US composer Geoffrey Gordon by performing his composition "Interiors of a Courtyard", which he had dedicated to us on occasion of our first US tour last year, as part of his portrait concert at Greenwich House in New York on March 11th. This was not only the composition's New York premiere but also our debut in town. The day before we already were guests at WNYC radio. You can listen to the interview here in the station's streaming-archive:
USA Reise 2003
This September we traveled the Great Lakes area and Southern California for our first US tour. Find out more here in our report:
La Fantesca
Daniel Ahlert played the concerto in c Major by Antonio Vivaldi and the mandolin part of an aria by Bononcini. Both were part of performances of the opera La Fantesca by Adolf Hasse. Canadian soprano Barbara Hanningan was the lead singer. There were several performances in the Netherlands, a.o. at the Aqua Musica Festival in Amsterdam and at the Holland Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht.
Birgit Schwab meets Malcolm Arnold
On 5th January 2003 Birgit Schwab performed the "Serenade" for guitar and strings and premiered the "Piece" for flute and guitar by the British composer and Oscar-winner Sir Malcolm Arnold at the opening concert of the festival "Orgel Plus" in Bottrop. The composer was attending the performance.
Premiere in Slovakia 2002
Here you will get to the report about Daniel's Slovakia tour and the premiere of the mandolin concerto by Ernesto Cordero:
Festival Internazionale della Chitarra 2001
You will find a report on our attendance at this year's international guitar-festival in Lagonegro here:
03rd November 2000, CD-Presentation
On this day our second CD "Chilli con Tango" was published, and we presented it in the Stadthalle Unna. This was also the evening of the premieres of three of the compositions of this CD: Hans Boll's "Prelude", "Romeo und Julia" by Thomas Schmidt-Kowalski and Beth Anderson's "September Swale".
05th September 2000, Island Mainau
At this year's meeting of the Secretarys of State of the neighbouring states of the Bodensee on Mainau we performed with the Junges Konstanzer Kammerorchester in the internal evening concert. Otto Schily, germanys Secretarys of State, was evidently delighted and personally thanked the orchestra and the soloists.
Tour to Israel 2000
In Beer-Sheva, a town in the midst of the Negev, the first International Plectrum Instruments Festival took place. Shmuel Elbaz, the artistic director of the festival, did a great job in organizing all activities including everything from having the artists picked up at the airport to presenting the concerts. His selection of different musicians and ensembles from Spain, Russia, Italy, Germany and Israel provided a most multifarious programme. Click here for a detailed report, and see photos from Beer-Sheva!: