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".
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