Mo, 10.11.2025 | 20:00 h | Gallustheater Frankfurt

Felicitas Baumann
Born in Frankfurt am Main, the soprano improvised with her voice every day as a child. She gained ensemble experience in various choirs, including the Landesjugendchor Hessen (Hesse State Youth Choir). At the age of 16, she received her first singing lessons from Sophie Wenzel. After graduating from high school, she completed a one-year A-level choir director training course with the Hessian Singers‘ Association. In 2018, she began studying elementary music education with a minor in singing at the Wiesbaden Music Academy, graduating in 2022 with a Bachelor of Music with special distinction. She is currently studying vocal pedagogy with Stefanie Schaefer at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfurt. She is a sought-after solo singer and soprano in the quartet ‘AnimA’, which has been sponsored by the association ‘Live Music Now Frankfurt’ since 2024. She is also a performer and musician in the contemporary improvisation ensemble ‘IDA FLUX’ and a musician in the progressive chamber music band ‘Stygium’.

Foto: Klaus Mai Fotografie, Darmstadt

Matthias Muche
The much-cited ‘border areas’ run like a thread through the activities of Cologne-based trombonist and composer Matthias Muche, who uses all forms of sound expansion of the instrument in his music, which at times sounds like electronic music, then picks up on rhythmic and melodic idioms from jazz and spins them further.
He studied trombone in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Cologne and completed postgraduate studies in audiovisual media at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne.
In addition to improvised music, his work focuses on interdisciplinary projects in which he uses a wide variety of playing structures, with language and soundscapes played back via external bells, interactive computer graphics or purely the trombone itself.
Muche has performed in over 50 countries and will receive the WDR Jazz Prize in the improvisation category in 2021. In 2022, the CD productions of his ensembles BONECRUSHER & T.ON will be nominated for the German Record Critics‘ Award.
Emily Pothast writes in THE WIRE: ‘Like Vinko Globokar and Stuart Dempster before him, German composer-trombonist Matthias Muche explores this often-overlooked instrument’s potential to extend the sonic possibilities of the human body.’

Foto: Elmar Petzold

Frederik Maul:
At the age of eight, Frederik Maul began playing the cello in Quedlinburg at the Harz District Music School. He continued his training at the Vocational School for Music in Bad Königshofen, where he gained his first teaching experience. In 2018, he obtained his degree as a state-certified ensemble conductor and then studied instrumental pedagogy at the Wiesbaden Music Academy, majoring in cello. During his studies, he had his first encounters with free improvisation under the guidance of Jan-Filip Ťupa. In 2022, Frederik Maul completed his studies with a Bachelor of Music degree. He is currently studying for a Master’s degree in music education at the HfMDK in Frankfurt and teaches cello at the Wiesbaden Youth Music School, among other places. He regularly incorporates his experience in free improvisation into his teaching.
Frederik Maul has been a regular member of the choir at St. Augustine of Canterbury Church in Wiesbaden since 2018 and has been a member of the band ‘Stygium’ since 2022, which describes its style as progressive chamber music.

Maximilian Clouth
Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1985
2005 Studied jazz guitar at the Mainz University of Music
2008 Carl Maria von Weber University of Music Dresden, diploma in 2009
2009 – 2012 Studied raga music with Pandit Nayan Ghosh at the Sangit Mahabharati Music School in Mumbai, India, and with Guitar Prasanna at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music
2015-2018 Studied film music composition at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, graduating with a diploma
2017 Winner of the Frankfurt Jazz Scholarship
Since 2022 Lecturer for jazz guitar and ensemble at the FMW Frankfurter Musikwerkstatt
Regular releases and concert tours with his own music, most recently ‘Entelecheia’ 2024, “Ragawerk” 2022 – next Ragawerk ‘Nila’ September 2025
Concerts (selection): Palmengarten Frankfurt, Jazztage Brandenburg, Goethe Institute Chennai (India), Giants of Jazz Delhi with Torsten de Winkel, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Embryo, Amit Trivedi, Arijit Singh, HR Bigband, among others.

Foto: Sukrit Nagaraj

Nikolai Muck,
Born in 1984, he studied jazz guitar at the Frankfurt Music Workshop (FMW) and at the Future Music School in Aschaffenburg. His teachers included Thomas Langer and Daniel Guggenheimer. He has been active as a professional musician since 2004 and has performed in concerts and tours with klezmer violinist Yale Strom, Voicestra singer Joey Blake and Zazai musician ZeleMele, among others.
In recent years, his artistic focus has been on experimental and freely improvised music. He works with extended playing techniques, electroacoustic sound research and graphic notation. A central concern of his is the connection between music and other arts. Among other things, he has realised projects for setting visual art to music and concepts for collective improvisation.
In 2016, Muck co-founded the Frankfurt-based New World Jazz ensemble Ensemble Entropie. In 2021, he collaborated with visual artist Klaus Schneider on his project Wort Bild Klang (Word Image Sound) to develop a musical concept for translating Braille into sound.

Hasan Özgür Tuna (Schlagzeug & Komponist)
is involved in jazz, free improvisation and new music. His interest in languages and interdisciplinary concepts (both in composing and playing) also leaves its mark on his artistic work. He has been touring with his band (Hasan Özgür Tuna Quartet) since 2023.

Giorgia Sassone (Tanz)
The dancer, born in Turin, was fascinated by the world of dance from an early age. She began her artistic journey at the Liceo Germana Erba in Turin, where she received a solid foundation in classical dance as well as techniques such as Graham, Cunningham, and Limón. 
After graduating, she moved to Geneva to further nurture her passion for dance, joining the professional program of Area Jeune Ballet with a focus on contemporary dance. She is currently in her third year at the University HfMDK in Frankfurt, pursuing a bachelor degree in dance. 
Improvisation has always been a central element of her practice, offering her the possibility to explore new ways of using her body in relation to music. Her artistic research is driven by deep curiosity and a desire to discover new movement languages, with particular attention to the dialogue between dance and other art forms.

Lucía María Rubio Belda (Tanz)
Born in Granada, dancer Lucía María Rubio Belda began her training at the Conservatorio Profesional de Danza Reina Sofía, where she built a strong foundation in classical ballet and contemporary dance, graduating with a diploma in classical ballet in 2022. She is currently continuing her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main.
She gained early stage experience performing with companies such as the Fernando Hurtado Dance Company and Eyas Dance Project. In 2022, she performed with the Slovenian Ballet at the International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada. From April to October 2024, she worked with the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company, performing in new creations and taking part in the Aerowaves Spring Forward Festival at the Staatstheater Darmstadt.

Henri Klein (Tanz)
Since the winter semester of 2023/2024, he has been studying for a bachelor’s degree in contemporary and classical dance at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, where he has already collaborated with the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company under the direction of Ioannis Mandafounis, among others. In addition to his appearance at the Frankfurt Opera in the production ‘Tannhäuser’ in spring 2024, he danced in Olga Dukhovnaya’s choreography ‘Swan Lake Project’ for the opening of the Aerowaves Spring Forward Festival 2024.
He also danced in the performance ‘Maybe Wildness’ in 2025 at the Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm with his class in pieces by choreographers Lucyna Zwolinska and Heidi Vierthaler. In his everyday life as a dance student, improvisation gives him the opportunity to explore movement in space, spontaneity and interaction with music.