JAZZSET 2024 - Europa String Choir

The Cafè 1799 Association, for the 22nd year of the Jazzset festival, hosts the Europa String Choir with Cathy Stevens on viola, Udo Dzierzanowski and Alessandro Bruno on guitars in concert to present their latest album "Sassoska" in the splendid Cathedral of Acquaviva delle Fonti on Sunday, September 29th at 9:15 pm.

The Europa String Choir, contemporary chamber music, is an instrumental music ensemble that explores the boundaries between improvisation and composition by crossing musical genres in a unique way, searching for the space between silence and sound.
Formed in 1993 based on the duo Cathy Stevens (viola) and Udo Dzierzanowski (guitar), to which Alessandro Bruno was added, and then Markus Reuter (since 1996). Initially based in Dorset, England, United Kingdom, they moved to Germany in 2013. Associated with the Guitar Craft / Guitar Circle courses founded by Robert Fripp (King Crimson) in March 1985. Cathy, Udo and Alessandro have years of experience with the League Of Crafty Guitarists and with the Orchestra Of Crafty Guitarists, carrying on this tradition worldwide.

Bio
Cathy Stevens grew up in a family of musicians (she is the daughter of composer Bernard Stevens) and studied violin and viola at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal Academy of Music. In 1975 she became a professional orchestral player, working with the London Sinfonietta and Fires of London, among others. Between 1983 and 1992, Stevens worked with cellist Chas Dickie, a former member of Van der Graaf Generator and a veteran of the improvised music scene.
In 1982, Stevens graduated in Alexander Technique, and it is in this capacity that she began working with Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft courses in 1989. In one of these courses, she met guitarist Udo Dzierzanowski. In 1991, Stevens and Dzierzanowski formed a viola and guitar duo called The Annexe, performing both classical and self-produced music. Later, in 1993, the second guitarist Alessandro Bruno joined the project, which took on the new name Europa String Choir. The ensemble's first album, The Starving Moon, was recorded that same year for Robert Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label.