Multiple Joyce Orchestra

Frank Gratkowski - alto saxophone, clarinets
Carl Ludwig Hübsch - tuba
Matthias Schubert - oboe, tenor saxophone
Scott Fields - guitar
Sebastian Gramss - bass
Michael Heupel - flutes
Joe Hertenstein - drums
Niels Klein - saxophones, clarinets
Isis Krüger - vocals
Thomas Lehn - analogue synthesizer
Axel Lindner - violin
Tom Lorenz - percussion, vibraphone
Dieter Manderscheid - bass
Matthias Mainz - analogue synthesizer
Annette Maye - clarinets
Udo Moll - trumpet
Matthias Muche - trombone
Melvyn Poore - tuba
Barbara Schachtner - vocals
Sue Schlotte - violoncello
Angelika Sheridan - flutes
Radek Stawarz - violin
Nicolao Valiensi - trombone
Holger Werner - clarinet
Philip Zoubek - piano

Compositions by Frank Gratkowski:
Flares Part 1 & Flares Part 2
TamTam (2010) excerpt

Multiple Joy[ce] Orchestra website

The Multiple Joy[ce] Orchestra is an orchestra formation founded and directed by Frank Gratkowski, Carl Ludwig Hübsch and Matthias Schubert in 2008, to explore the possibilities of combining composition and improvisation with a large scale ensemble. The Orchestra is a pool of over twenty musicians based in and around Cologne. They come from various fields of music, such as Jazz, Contemporary Classical Music, Experimental and Improvised Music. Why a giant group? What can we do as an orchestra that we couldnÕt as a small group? The solution was to explore sheer immensity of sound and range of expression Ð make use of how many players you have, either all at once or in succession or in layers. All the compositions are written especially for the individual members of the Orchestra who become therefore an important part of each composition. The music gets it's final shape from the correlation of the players decisions and the predetermined composed material. That, of course, is the biggest difference between the old symphonic idea of an orchestra and the idea of the Multiple Joy[ce] Orchestra Ð players are valued as part of an organism, sufficient in themselves and collaborative with the other members, not as little incomplete parts of a bigger, totalizing mechanism.