:::: friedemann dähn

friedemann 'fried' dähn is one of germany's outstanding cellists, an artist who has broken the boundaries between opposite musical styles and has succeeded in "crossing over" from classical to avant-garde and jazz with his impressive mastery of improvisation.

fried dähn's cello career began at the age of six, when he fell in love with the instrument and took his first lessons in tübingen, his home town. in 1989 he finished his cello studies at the düsseldorf conservatory "with exellence", having taken part in master classes with boris pergamenschikow, heinrich schiff and mischa maisky. he then joined the renowned haydn string quartet which was based in austria, and went on highly acclaimed concert tours to china and the soviet union.

after his return, fried dähn was asked to lead the cello section of the "deutsche kammerakademie neuss", conducted by johannes goritzki. after three years in the famous ensemble modern in frankfurt, he returned to his "roots" in baden- württemburg as principal cellist of the württemberg philharmonic orchestra. since then he has played in all european important music centres, filling concert halls with his original interpretations of traditional cello concertos such as haydn, saint-saens and dvorak, as well as contemporary pieces such as ali askin's concert for electric cello.

his outstanding ability to improvise and his virtuosity did not remain unnoticed in the contemporary music as well as in the jazz scene. his "music collages" performed on an electric cello especially developed for him have made fried dähn a sought-after international artist. in various performances and recordings he has succeeded in bringing together classical tradition and modern electronic music. the result can be heard on cd productions such as "yellow shark", a project with the "enfant terrible" of the international rock scene, frank zappa, and the ensemble modern, which went on tour in germany in 1992, with outstanding success.

his consequent seeking of new forms in creating music lead him to explore the digital world and new media. meanwhile he owns a digital sound studio where he produces music, soundscapes, visual music and soundtracks for film and media.

since 1999 he is teaching audio and sounddesign at university of applied sciences in schwäbisch hall and became professor for sound arts in 2004.

in his current solo programm "kiss my guarneri" dähn presents his latest original collages, once again proving his flexibility and experimental daring: a blend of blues fragments, shrill harmonies and meditative sounds make this production a unique experience. fried dähn continues to increase his repertoire, eg with new music for piano trio, improvisation combined with gregorian chant or modern poetry. he has just returned from a successful tour with the "sounding stone" artist klaus feßmann and the percussionist manfred kniel, with their new program "cantus lapidum".

... top of page