John Wolf Brennan facts for kids
John Wolf Brennan (born February 13, 1954) is a talented Irish musician. He plays the piano, organ, and a small keyboard instrument called the melodica. He is also a composer, meaning he writes music. John Wolf Brennan lives in Weggis, Switzerland.
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John Wolf Brennan's Musical Journey
John Wolf Brennan was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was seven years old, his family moved to Switzerland. He started learning piano at age eleven. Later, he played bass guitar in a rock band in 1970. After that, he played keyboards in a jazz-rock band.
He studied music at several places. These included the University of Fribourg and the Swiss Jazz School in Bern. He also studied at the conservatory in Lucerne and the Academy of Church and School Music.
In 1977, his brother Peter Wolf started a progressive rock band called Flame Dream. In the same year, John Wolf Brennan started his own free jazz group called Freemprovisations. This group included Peter Schärli. Two years later, he formed another band called Impetus.
Playing in Bands and Collaborations
From 1980 to 1984, John Wolf Brennan played in his band Impetus. He also played in the Mohrenkopf Afro-jazz band and a group called Triumbajo. During the 1980s, he worked with other musicians like Corin Curschellas, Christy Doran, and Urs Leimgruber.
In 1988, he spent six months working in New York City. The next year, he started a quartet (a group of four musicians) called Pago Libre.
In the early 1990s, he worked with Lindsay Cooper and other musicians. He also created an ensemble (a musical group) called SinFONietta in 1991. In 1993, he worked with American drummer Alex Cline in a quintet (a group of five musicians).
A Russian horn player named Arkady Shilkloper joined Pago Libre. They recorded several albums together, including Pago Libre (1996) and Stepping Out (2006).
In 1997, John Wolf Brennan lived in London. There, he worked with musicians like Julie Tippetts and Evan Parker in a group called HeXtet. This group put poems by famous writers like Seamus Heaney to music. In 1999, he toured Finland and worked with other musicians in a quartet called Euradici.
Developing New Sounds and Solo Work
Brennan worked with clarinet player Gene Coleman on the Momentum albums. He also formed the group Triangulation with Christy Doran and Patrice Heral. In this group, he developed a special way of making music he called "comprovisation." He came up with this term in 1989.
He has also released several solo albums. These include The Beauty of Fractals (1989), Pictures in a Gallery (2006), and The Speed of Dark (2009). After his album The Well-Prepared Clavier (1998), he started using "prepared piano" techniques. This means he places objects inside the piano to create new, non-electronic sounds. Some of these sounds he named "arcopiano" and "pizzicatopiano."
In 2010, he created a sound art project called "Inner & Outer Spaces." He worked with video artist Susanne Hofer for this project at the Lucerne Art Museum. He also played in a trio called Melos Montis and a duo called Twinkeys. He formed a band called Sonic Roots with several other musicians.
Recent Projects and Compositions
In 2012, John Wolf Brennan worked with overtone singer Christian Zehnder and Arkady Shilkloper. He also recorded the album Pilgrims with guitarist Marco Jencarelli and percussionist Tony Majdalani. In 2018, he started a trio called SOOON.
John Wolf Brennan has written many different kinds of music. He has composed music for films and chamber music (music for small groups of instruments). He also wrote two operas: Güdelmäntig (2004) and Night.Shift (2007). The second opera was based on a poem by W. H. Auden.
He also started a series of books called Sonic Roots for piano. These books are inspired by Celtic Country Dances. The first book came out in 2010 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. More books in the series were published for violin, clarinet, and alto saxophone.
In 2013, the Percussion Art Ensemble Berne performed his piece "Oscillating Orbits." This composition was for marimba, vibraphone, timpani, and other percussion instruments. In 2015, he wrote "Traumpfade" for an orchestra and overtone soloist.
For the 30-year anniversary of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation, he wrote "Winds of May." This piece was for a soprano singer and piano. It was based on a poem by James Joyce. He also wrote a hymn for his hometown in Switzerland, Weggis, called "s'Wäggiser Lied."
In 2017, he composed "Got hard" for the Alpentöne Festival. This was an alpine jazz suite for a wind orchestra. In August 2018, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich performed his work Traumpfade.
In 2019, he arranged most of the choir music for a program by the Zurich female choir "die vogelfreien." He also composed music for a play called Fluctus. In the same year, he released the albums Nevergreens, Cinémagique 2.0, and Youchz.
Discography
John Wolf Brennan has released many albums throughout his career. Here are some of his solo piano albums and albums with his main groups:
Solo Piano Albums
- 1989: The Beauty of Fractals
- 1998: The Well-Prepared Clavier (with Marianne Schroeder)
- 2006: Pictures in a Gallery
- 2019: Nevergreens
- 2021: Nitty Gritty Ditties (with Anna Murphy)
Pago Libre Albums
- 1996: Pago Libre (with Arkady Shilkloper, Tscho Theissing & Daniele Patumi)
- 2008: Pago Libre Sextett: platzDADA!
- 2018: Pago Libre & Friends: got hard
- 2020: Pago Libre: Mountain Songlines
Other Notable Albums
- 2004: Triangulation (with Christy Doran & Patrice Héral)
- 2013: Pilgrims (with Tony Majdalani & Marco Jencarelli)
- 1999: Momentum (with Gene Coleman & Christian Wolfarth)
- 1986: Mountain Hymn (with Urs Leimgruber)
- 1993: TEN ZENtences (with Daniele Patumi)
- 1998: HeXtet: Through the Ear of a Raindrop (with Julie Driscoll, Evan Parker, Chris Cutler and others)
- 2012: Tarkus & Other Love Stories (Piano-Duo TwinKeys with Esther Flückiger)
- 2014: Dehei nöd dehei (Trio Zehnder/Brennan/Shilkloper with Christian Zehnder & Arkady Shilkloper)
