Trio Fantasm

Albrecht Maurer – Violine

Mat Maneri - Viola

Lucian Ban - Piano

The German violinist Albrecht Maurer, the Romanian pianist Lucian Ban and the American violist Mat Maneri form the TRIO FANTASM. They play free improvisations with notes inspired by contemporary music and represent an integrative style that is open to influences from all areas of art. The promise of the 21st century to a global communication of cultures takes place here.

Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri & Albrecht Maurer met in the award-winning Third Stream project "Enesco Re-Imagined". The extraordinary chemistry between Albrecht Maurer, Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri led to further cooperation.

They played their first concerts and made CD recordings which were released on Nemu-Records in autumn 2014. With the help of the Romanian Cultural Institute, they toured Transylvania and Germany and made further guest appearances. In 2015 they premiered in New York.

In 2019 they will develop a new programme and interweave free improvisation with their own contemporary music, sensing and creating mutual influences.

For April 2019 they have been awarded a grant from the Musikfond for a small tour in Mecklenburg Vorpommern.

excerpts from „Fantasm“

projects

Voices

On their debut CD from 2014 they present a mixture of lyrical moods and energetic contemporary jazz. Fantasm is a rarely played composition by Paul Motion, which Mat Maneri personally received from him, and is the title track of the CD. The three musicians offer a lyrical yet powerful programme with rich moods from Transylvania and the flair of the New York Down Town avant-garde. Their music is decorated with terms like "sound fractals, microtonals, jazz musings, nyc downtown skronk, 20th century european classical or sounds of repose".

The two New Yorkers, who are in their early 40s, are at the height of their creativity and meet Albrecht Maurer, a congenial representative of the European music avant-garde. The Romanian pianist and composer Lucian Ban, who lives in Brooklyn and has been awarded the title "Best European Jazz Musician" of the Hans Koller Prize several times, has worked in New York with all the greats of the improvisation scene and, like Mat Maneri, has produced numerous publications. After completing his classical violin training, Mat Maneri has caused a sensation with his viola in jazz.

A-Train, Berlin Mai 2013

Since Maurer´s they have become friends in Lucian Ban's Enesco project. In 2012 and 2013 they made recordings for their debut album at the Loft in Cologne, and Maurer also played as a guest on the ECM release tour of the two New Yorkers. In late autumn 2014 the debut album was released and Trio Fantasm played a tour with 10 concerts in Romania and Germany. The title of the CD will be Fantasm. The CD was internationally acclaimed and even reviewed by Down Beat magazine.

„ Together with the violinist Albrecht Maurer, they play a lyrical yet powerful program, with rich moods from Transylvania and the flair of the New York Downtown avantgarde."

Unterfahrt München Mai 2013