September 29, Saturday, 3 pm
Franciscan Monastery Church, Trakø g. 9/1
Ich sünge gerne hübschen sanc
Highlights of Austrian Minnesang
ENSEMBLE UNICORN Austria
leader Michael Posch recorder
- Hermann Oswald tenor
- Guillermo Perez organetto
- Thomas Wimmer fiddle. lute
- Reinhild Waldek harp
- Wolfgang Reithofer percussion
The Ensemble Unicorn consists of five musicians
specialising in early music and is dedicated to the interpretation of music from the Middle
Ages to the Baroque and of works of their own. An original feature of the ensemble is the
approach towards contemporary popular music and their interpretations of Medieval and
Renaissance works, played on original instruments. The compositions by the ensemble are based
on Medieval and Renaissance dances, cantigas and chansons and reflect the amalgamation of
Oriental and European cultural trends.
Michael Posch, the director of the ensemble, has set himself the task of making the music of
the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance more accessible to a wide audience by means of
refreshingly new interpretations. Under his direction, specialist musicians from Austria, Italy
and Germany form the heart of this international ensemble, at whose forefront stand lively
performance practise and historical improvisation. Depending upon a programme, experienced singers
and instrumentalists are invited to perform as guests.
The Ensemble Unicorn boasts a vast collection of CD productions, and has, for some years, acted
as a vehicle of culture in close contact with the Federal Ministry for Education and the Arts,
as well as with Austrian Embassies and Cultural Institutes.
In addition to numerous concert tours throughout Europe, the ensemble has also appeared in,
among other countries, Canada, Turkey, Israel and Iran, and has been invited to international
concert series and festivals.
Michael Posch has studied the recorder at the State Conservatory
of Carinthia, the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna and the Academy of Music in Trossingen,
where he studied with Kees Boeke. He has given concerts in the whole of Europe, Moscow, Israel, Lebanon,
Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, Canada, Taiwan, Iran and elsewhere, has recorded over 35 CDs and
has made many radio and television recordings, both as a soloist and with various early music
ensembles, including Accentus, Oni Wytars, Clemencic Consort, and Concentus Musicus.
Since 1991, Posch has been director of the international Unicorn ensemble. He has given
masterclasses on recorder playing and early music at the Higher Institute for Western Music in
Damascus (Syria), the Royal Conservatory of Amman (Jordan) and the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.
He teaches the recorder and early music at the Konservatorium Wien University in Vienna, where he
holds the position of Director of the Department of Early Music.