John Wolf Brennan facts for kids
John Wolf Brennan is a talented musician from Ireland. He plays the piano, organ, and melodica, and he also writes music. He lives in Weggis, Switzerland. John Wolf Brennan was born on February 13, 1954.
About John Wolf Brennan's Music Journey
John Wolf Brennan was born in Dublin, Ireland. When he was seven years old, his family moved to Switzerland. He started learning to play the piano when he was eleven. Later, he played bass guitar in a rock band in 1970 and then keyboards in a jazz-rock band.
He studied music at several places, including the Swiss Jazz School in Bern and the conservatory in Lucerne. His brother, Peter Wolf, who is also a musician, started a progressive rock band called Flame Dream in 1977. In the same year, John Wolf Brennan started his own `free jazz` group called Freemprovisations. Two years later, he formed another band called Impetus.
Working with Different Bands and Musicians
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 called Pago Libre.
In the early 1990s, he worked with musicians such as Lindsay Cooper and Daniele Patumi. He also created an ensemble called SinFONietta in 1991. In 1993, he played with American drummer Alex Cline in a quintet called Shooting Stars & Traffic Lights. A Russian horn player named Arkady Shilkloper joined Pago Libre, and 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 Julie Tippetts, Evan Parker, and Chris Cutler in a group called HeXtet. This group created music for poems by famous writers like Seamus Heaney and Edgar Allan Poe. In 1999, he toured Finland with Ivo Perelman and worked with Gianluigi Trovesi in a quartet called Euradici.
Solo Work and New Music Ideas
John Wolf Brennan worked with clarinetist Gene Coleman on the Momentum albums. He also formed a group called Triangulation with Christy Doran and Patrice Heral. In this group, he developed a new idea he called "comprovisation," which combines composing and improvising music.
He has released several solo piano albums, such as The Beauty of Fractals (1989) and Pictures in a Gallery (2006). After his album The Well-Prepared Clavier (1998), he started using special techniques to prepare his piano. This means he would place objects on or between the piano strings to create unique, non-electronic sounds like "arcopiano" and "pizzicatopiano."
In 2010, he created a sound art project called "Inner & Outer Spaces" with video artist Susanne Hofer for the Lucerne Art Museum. He also played in a trio called Melos Montis and a duo called Twinkeys. He formed another band called Sonic Roots with several other musicians.
In 2012, he worked with overtone singer Christian Zehnder and Arkady Shilkloper. He also recorded an album called Pilgrims with guitarist Marco Jencarelli and percussionist Tony Majdalani. In 2018, he started a trio called SOOON with Tony Majdalani and yodel singer Sonja Morgenegg.
Composing for Films, Operas, and Orchestras
John Wolf Brennan has written music for films and chamber music (music for small groups of instruments). He has also composed two operas: Güdelmäntig (2004) and Night.Shift (2007), which was based on a poem by W. H. Auden.
He started a series of books called Sonic Roots for piano, inspired by Celtic Country Dances. The first book was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2010. He continued to publish more books in this series for different instruments like violin, clarinet, and alto saxophone.
In 2013, the Percussion Art Ensemble Berne performed his piece "Oscillating Orbits," which was written for instruments like marimba and vibraphone. In 2015, the Neues Orchester Basel asked him to write a piece called "Traumpfade" for orchestra and overtone soloist Christian Zehnder.
For the 30-year anniversary of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation, he wrote "Winds of May" for a singer and piano, 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," an alpine jazz suite for a wind orchestra and his band Pago Libre & Friends. In August 2018, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich performed his work Traumpfade with soloists Arkady Shilkloper and Christian Zehnder.
In 2019, he created many choir arrangements for a program by the Zurich female choir "die vogelfreien." He also composed music for a play called Fluctus and released albums like Nevergreens and Cinémagique 2.0.
Music Albums (Discography)
John Wolf Brennan has released many albums, both as a solo artist and with different groups. Here are some of his main recordings:
Solo Piano Albums
- 1989: The Beauty of Fractals
- 1991: Iritations
- 1994: Text, Context, Co-Text & Co-Co-Text
- 1998: The Well-Prepared Clavier (with Marianne Schroeder)
- 2002: Flügel
- 2006: Pictures in a Gallery
- 2009: The Speed of Dark
- 2012: Solopiano
- 2017: Silly Blooze. In: Twenty Years of New Blues for Piano. Marcel Worms, Piano
- 2019: Nevergreens
- 2021: Nitty Gritty Ditties (with Anna Murphy)
- 2024: Wish you were Hear
Pago Libre Albums
- 1990: Extempora
- 1993: Shooting Stars and Traffic Lights
- 1995: Moskau-Petuschki / Felix-Szenen
- 1996: Pago Libre
- 1997: Pago Libre: Wake Up Call: Live In Italy
- 2001: Pago Libre: Cinémagique
- 2003: Pago Libre: Phoenix: Live in Salzburg & Zurich
- 2005: Pago Libre: Stepping Out
- 2008: Pago Libre Sextett: platzDADA!
- 2009: Pago Libre: Fake Folk
- 2018: Pago Libre & Friends: got hard
- 2019: Pago Libre: Cinémagique 2.0
- 2020: Pago Libre Sextet: platzDADA!! (remastered)
- 2020: Pago Libre: Mountain Songlines
- 2021: Pago Libre & Sooon: FriendShip
- 2022: Extempora
- 2024: Pago Libre & Sooon: FriendShip - Riffs ahead!
- 2025: Pago Libre: Wild Card. Songs from a Farm
Christy Doran & Triangulation Albums
- 1988: Henceforward (with Christy Doran)
- 1995: Henceforward (with Christy Doran)
- 2004: Triangulation (with Christy Doran & Patrice Héral)
- 2010: Whirligigs (with Bruno Amstad, Christy Doran & Patrice Héral)
- 2018: Pago Libre & Friends: got hard (with Florian Mayer, Arkady Shilkloper, Tom Götze, Patrice Héral, Christy Doran, Christian Zehnder & dem Alpentöne Blasorchester)
Pilgrims, SOOON Albums
- 2013: Pilgrims (with Tony Majdalani & Marco Jencarelli)
- 2017: Pilgrims: Oriental Orbit (with Tony Majdalani & Marco Jencarelli)
- 2019: SOOON: YouCHz Now (with Sonja Morgenegg & Tony Majdalani)
- 2024: Pilgrims in Trance it (with Tony Majdalani & Marco Jencarelli)
Momentum Albums
- 1999: Momentum (with Gene Coleman & Christian Wolfarth)
- 2000: Momentum 2 – The Law of Refraction (with Gene Coleman, Alfred Zimmerlin & Christian Wolfarth)
- 2002: Momentum 3 (with Bertrand Denzler, Christian Weber & Christian Wolfarth)
- 2005: Momentum 4 – Rising Fall (with Gene Coleman, Thomas Mejer & Marc Unternährer)
Urs Leimgruber Albums
- 1986: Mountain Hymn (with Urs Leimgruber)
- 1988: An Chara (with Urs Leimgruber)
- 1989: Polyphyllum (with Urs Leimgruber)
- 1990: M.A.P. (Music for Another Planet) (with Norma Winstone und Urs Leimgruber)
- 1991: Live at Montreux ’89 (with Urs Leimgruber)
- 1992: Blue Jazz – Live at Montreux (with Urs Leimgruber)
Daniele Patumi Albums
- 1993: TEN ZENtences (with Daniele Patumi)
- 1997: Aurealis (with Robert Dick & Daniele Patumi)
- 2002: Time Jumps – Space cracks (with Daniele Patumi)
Other Collaborations
- 1979: Opening Seed
- 1980: Celtic Country Dances
- 1981: Triumbajo
- 1983: Down to Earth
- 1988: Entupadas (with Corin Curschellas)
- 1993: Willisau live and more (with Creative Works Orchestra)
- 1994: OrganIC VoICes (with Gabriele Hasler, Peter Schärli & Christian Muthspiel)
- 1998: HeXtet: Through the Ear of a Raindrop (with Julie Driscoll, Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford, Chris Cutler & Peter Whyman)
- 1999: Minute Age (with Margrit Rieben & Reto Senn)
- 1999: Nisajo (with Nicky Heinen & Alexander Alexandrov)
- 2000: Pipelines (with Hans Kennel)
- 2000: Entropology – The Science of Sonic Poetry (with Eddie Prévost & Simon Picard)
- 2002: Broken Dreams live (with Alexandra Prusa, Hans Kennel & Marc Unternährer)
- 2003: klanggang
- 2003: Glockenspiel
- 2003: Zero Heroes (with Peggy Lee & Dylan van der Schyff)
- 2004: Pipelines – Live at Lucerne Festival (with Hans Kennel & Marc Unternährer)
- 2004: I.N.I.T.I.A.L.S.
- 2004: Sculpted Sound (with Magda Vogel, Charlotte Hug, Shirley Anne Hofmann, Eugen Gomringer & Christian Wolfarth)
- 2007: Broken Dreams: Hommage an Sophie Taeuber-Arp (with Alexandra Prusa & Peter Gossweiler)
- 2007: Mein liebstes Krokodil: after Anton Chekhov The Lady with the little Dog and letters to and from Olga Knipper (with Thomas Hürlimann & Arkady Shilkloper)
- 2008: Jodel Vol. 1 (with Nadja Räss & Franziska Wigger)
- 2009: Klick, klick, ihr Sätzlinge (with Eveline Hasler)
- 2012: POYA (with Daniel Mezger)
- 2012: Tarkus & Other Love Stories (Piano-Duo TwinKeys with Esther Flückiger & John Wolf Brennan)
- 2014: Dehei nöd dehei (Trio Zehnder/Brennan/Shilkloper with Christian Zehnder & Arkady Shilkloper)
- 2016: MODE (with Gérard Widmer & Willi Grimm)
- 2016: Echo. Von der Suche nach Widerhall. (with Christian Zehnder & John Wolf Brennan)
- 2023: Klanglabor feat. John Wolf Brennan (with Arno Oehri, Denise Kronabitter & Marco Sele)
- 2024: Percussion Art Ensemble Bern & Misa Stefanovic: Grenzgänger (Works by Fred Frith, John Wolf Brennan & Siegfried Kutterer)
- 2025: Night in Gale (with Arkady Shilkloper, Christian Zehnder & Marcello Wick)
Groupe Lacroix Albums
- 1997: The Composer Group (with Moscow Rachmaninov Trio)
- 1999: Arpiade (with Barbara Sutter, Béatrice Wolf & Michael Wolf)
- 2003: 8 Pieces on Paul Klee (with Ensemble Sortisatio Leipzig)
