"B-A-C-H"

WOLLNY doesn't mean anything, and even HALPERIN only has three letters. BACH had it much better and was able to inscribe his entire name in his music as a sequence of notes. His luck for musical signatures was not vanity; today it would be better described as an easter egg. And what an egg it was, because this motif has occupied half the history of music from Berg to Gubaidulina.

With Michael Wollny and Tamar Halperin, two other contemporary greats are joining this tradition and attempting to take on this self-enigma as part of the "Con Spirito" festival. The two musicians entered the world of curiosities, rarities and riddles 16 years ago when they recorded their album "Wunderkammer" together. Back then, listeners were enchanted with eerily beautiful sounds and even, as they said at the time, "in the service of discovering the world". 

We can certainly look forward to musical insights at the Wunderkammer Thomaskirche as well, when the two of them turn their attention to the old master and his signature enigma. For there is one mystery they have certainly solved: how to bring jazz and classical music together without resorting to kitsch or pandering.