Michelangelo4tet (perc / fl, vcl / vlc / gtr, vcl)
Michelangelo
Solo
Led by Michelangelo Pagnano, composer, guitarist, singer of Brazilian and Italian origin, Michelangelo4tet is the result of his longstanding encounter with the Swiss percussionist Didier Métrailler and German cellist Karsten Hochapfel, joined in 2011 by the young and talented French flutist Fanny Menegoz.
The original concept "Brasilafricacoustic" of Michelangelo4tet is the result of a long poetic exploration, begun in
São Paulo in contact with Brasilian popular music, fueled by Amazonian inspiration and reinvented towards the mixture of African and Western sound horizons.
With its mindfully organic tonality, this ethno-jazz music is constituting an original acoustic space, in resonance with the sound of breathing beings inhabiting our daily lives structuring our interactions with the world. It finds its logical complement in more research on frequencies, stamps, plasticity and exchanges of instuments roles. Used to be on Swiss and other European stages, the 4tet diffuses artistic inspiration open to otherness, feastfully and explorative, eager to share its poetic inspirations with a new audience. Their first album "Dança dos Xapiri", available in more than 20 countries, achieved a great success. The Michelangelo4tet is the catalog of Nemomusic.
Michelangelo Pagnano
Born in São Paulo (Brazil) in 1965, Michelangelo is inhabited by music from an early age. Initiating himself first to percussion, his rhythmic intuition and sensitivity allow him to join different formations. His curiosity and several decisive encounters lead him to study guitar and open to different musical styles. He discovers the potential resonance of music with other disciplines and beginqs working with theater, cinema, dance, while developing an affinity for electronic music, African, jazz, and world...
As as teenager, he co-founded with his brother, Maico Pagnano, a Brazilian popular music group Mazambo
still active today, playing electric guitar, composing and arranging songs. Michelangelo is also founder of Trio Pocket (standard and crossbred jazz ) Amajazzonia (latin jazz fusion). From Switzerland (Lausanne, Martini), through Brazil (Sao Paulo, Curitiba) to France (Paris), where he is alternately in creative residency, Michelangelo receives his first commissioned compositions, co-creation and arrangements for several artistic collaborations, including
Clem Cardenas (pop bossa mestizo) Alissa Sanders (afrobrazilian jazz ) Céline Rudolph (pop jazz) ...
He develops a peculiar interest in sang music, feeling attracted by voice. One thing leading to another, he then creates a solo repertoire shifting in todays "Michelangelo 4tet." Tapping into his eclectic career, he creates his own sound. The maturity of his technique, the ingenuity of his solos and original repertoire make him an uncommon songwriter, guitarist and singer.
Didier Métrailler
Born in 1978 in Sierre (CH), he was awarded a Professional Certificate at the Conservatoire HEM de Genève (1998), First Price at the Riddes National Competition (1998) as well as First Price of Virtuosity at the Conservatoire HEM de Genève (2000). He studies tabla in Benares, India (2003) and Brasilian percussion in Rio de Janeiro (2007). Since 2002, he teaches percussion at the Conservatoire de Sion (CH). He serves as first percussionist for the Sinfonietta de Lausanne from 2007 to 2009 and principal timpanist for the Berner Symphony Orchester from 2009 to 2011.
He founded in 2000 the "drumming4tet", an original percussion quartet playing contemporary repertoire. He creates and composes percussion and multi-media performances including "OMNI" and "Web of Sound" performed numerous times in Switzerland and France. From 2003 to 2005, with the "Company Roland Auzet" and IRCAM, he participates in creating different contemporary circus performances inspired by the novel The Tin Drum of Günter Grass. In 2007, he joins the singer and guitarist Michelangelo Pagnano and participates in developing the co-founded Michelangelo Duo to the present form of Michelangelo4tet, based on ethno-jazz features.
Didier Métrailler appears since 1998 in Festivals such as : Agora - Paris / Montreux Jazz / Archipel - Genève / La Bâtie - Genève / Espace des Arts - Chalon-sur-Saône / Le Souffle des Peaux - Paris / Passionkirche - Berlin / Sunset - Paris / Migration - Paris / Les Musiques - Marseille / Multiphonies - Radio France Paris, Swiss Jazz Diagonal / label suisse / Expo 02 / Fête des Vignerons / International Festival Oficina de Curitiba (Brasil)...
He works with: the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Centre International de Percussion de Genève, and the IRCAM. He toured Europe with renowned percussionist as Steven Schick Jean Geoffroy, Daniel Humair, Emanuel Sejourne, Fritz Hauser, Carlo Rizzo, Roland Auzet, Eduardo Leandro...
Karsten Hochapfel
Born in 1978 at Lake Constance in Tettnang (Germany). After graduating from high school, he performs for two years in Europe with the group “Embryo”. Within this group, he meets great musicians such as American pianist Mal Waldron, and the Moroccan musicians Chraïbi el Said Mahmoud Gania, Egyptian composer and violinist Abdo Dagir. In 2001, he joins the Conservatory of Munich to study jazz guitar with Peter O'Mara, classical guitar with Gabriele Prediger-Mahne and Barbara Polacek and cello with Jan Polacek and Katalin Rootaring. He earns a teaching degree in 2005. Meanwhile, he plays in many jazz and world music bands, e.g. in the group of saxophonist Wanja Slavin. Together they occur with Kenny Wheeler and Méderic Collignon. With a grant provided by the Cité des Arts, he comes to Paris, where he still lives today. He plays, arranges and composes in different styles for several groups, such as Bulgarian singer and violinist Djaïma, acoustic trio Morgen Naughties with Sylvaine Hélary and Tam de Villiers, as well as his own project Das Rote Gras (the Red Grass) a septet that brings together German and French musicians. He releases two records with the group, both well received by the press on either sides of the Rhine.
Being simultaneously improviser and composer he works in a more spontaneous way with the Argentine guitarist Diego Mune, the Ecuadorian artist-performer Miguel Arcos and drummer- poet Fabien Rimbaud. He participates in various interdisciplinary projects such as dance Pressures of choreographer William Nikandre Le Denmat, for which he composes music, or Carolyn Carlson and Alejandro Jodorowsky's performance that he accompanies notably for the dance festival June Events 2010. He joins the Trio Michelangelo in 2008.
Fanny Ménégoz
Is a Flutist and singer born in Grenoble (France) in 1988. She begins studying music at the age of 6 and is quickly initiated to various styles of music, as well as improvisation. She follows mainly classical and jazz classes at the Conservatoire de Chambéry, where she obtained her DEM of traverse flute. Under the direction of Philippe Pierlot, she continues studying at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Rueil Malmaison (CRR), where she gets her traverse flute price and deepens her knowledge of jazz and improvisation at the CRR of Paris. In 2009, she wins the Marion Bourgine Price in the framework of the Jazz workshop at the festival Jazz in Marciac. She plays and composes in various jazz ensembles, including The Aquarium Orchestra, The Substance, and is part of the group Pince oreilles located in Rhône-Alpes. By moving to Paris, she opened her activity to contemporary music, collaborating with the slammers Dgiz (slam session at L' Atelier du Plateau in 2009) and Arthur Ribo (concerts at the Trois Baudets (Paris) and at the Festival d'Avignon in July 2010). She broadens her practice by collaborating with performing arts groups and joins the dance company of choreographer Hervé Sika "Mood/RV6K" signing the music and vocals. In fall 2010, she begins to collaborate with the theatre company "The Praxinoscope" in the project Rivage d'outre monde. She joins Michelangelo4tet in 2010.
