“African Chess”

Fritz v.Friedl  -  Narrator

Alois Eberl  -  Trombone & Accordion

Edi Koehldorfer  -  Guitar

Christian Radovan  -  Trombone

“African Chess,”  is the story of the life of Hans von Loesch,  who moved to Kenya from Germany after he was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
In his long and ultimately successful search to regain his health,   he delves in to the worlds of traditional healing and spiritualism,  at the same time becoming a pioneer in Eco Tourism and dealing with the government corruption and threats to his personal safety that this entailed.

When work is once more halted  by local government on the building of his lodge,  it happens to coincide with the arrival of former
Danish chess master  Bent Larson,  who is looking for accommodation.
The staff,  guests and Hans have always played chess in a passionate yet amateur way,  so the arrival of this Grand Master from the 50′s and 60′s causes something of a stir.

Bent befriends Hans and offers him advice on the dangerous political situation unfolding on his doorstep;
“You are dealing with this situation like you play chess – haphazardly surrendering pieces with no real plan or assessment of the  strengths and
weaknesses of your opponent.   You have to know what moves your opponent is capable of making and who  are the allies on your team,
so you can think logically and strategically to outwit your rival.   Let’s  call this African Chess.”

Every read chapter will be introduced and partly acompanied by the three
musicians who composed the music specially for this story.

Eight chapters from 2 parts of Hans von Loesch’s life report that was
brought into written form by Werner Zeppenfeld will be read.

Fritz von Friedl / Narrator

Fritz studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and has been engaged at theaters in Austria and Germany for more then 50 years, including the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. In Vienna he was engaged at the theater in the Josefstadt and The Ensemble Theater. From 1972 to 1978 he was also engaged at the Vienna Burgtheater.

With George Tabori , he worked in the 1980′s four years at the Vienna Schauspielhaus ensemble; ” The Circle.”

Since  the 1960s Fritz has been  involved in many television productions including American and French films with actors including Marie-Helene Breillant, Catherine Deneuve, Christiane Hörbiger and John Malkovitch.

Fritz von Friedl is regularly to be seen in Austrian and German television productions and he is also active as a reciter with literary programs.

For over thirty years he has been a spokesperson for cultural and political contributions in the ORF (Austrian Radio) and for the ORF he features regularly as in voice-overs in  film documentaries as well as a voice actor.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_von_Friedl_(Schauspieler)

Edi Koehldorfer / Guitar, Composition

Edi was born in Styria/Austria where he was surrounded by Austrian folk music during his childhood. At the age of nine Edi got his first guitar.Later he studied classical guitar at  the University in Graz and then Jazz at the Vienna Conservatory. One very inspiring and influental project for Edi was the work on “Homage to Grapelli” with Benjamin Schmid on Violin, Georg Breinschmid on bass and Ernst Reijseger ( NL) on cello and  occasionally  the wonderful guitarist Biréli Lagrène (F) as special guest.

For 10 years Edi worked with the very successful Austrian group, “Global Kryner.”  A great and fun band which recorded many albums and has performed throughout Europe, Mexico and the Ukraine.

The latest beautiful Edi Koehldorfer Solo Album was released in 2012 and is called,  “Alone At Last.”

Edi has performed with the following artists:

Barbara Dennerlein (DE), Christy Baron (USA), Andrzey Czudich (POL), Angelika Kirchschlager, Helen Schneider (US), Mikolas Skuta (SK), Thomas Gansch, Juraj Bartos (SK), Peter Herbert, Alex Deutsch, Zappamania, Stella Jones, Wiener Symphoniker, Klangforum Wien, Wiener Kammerorchester and many more.
www.edikoehldorfer.com

Alois Eberl / Trombone, Accordion, Composition

The exceptionally gifted trombonist and accordionist Alois Eberl was born in 1986 in Kitzbühel, where he started with his first instrument, the accordion, at the age of six years. At the age of ten the trombone followed. At 14, he continued his education on trombone and accordion at the Tyrolean State Conservatory, where she discovered, in addition to classical music, his passion for jazz and improvised music. 2005-2008 he studied jazz trombone at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz. He graduated from the IGP bachelor’s degree in jazz trombone with distinction and finished as the focus accordion with excellent success. In the fall of 2012, he closed the concert field study Classical trombone at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Prof. Dany Bonvin. Alois Eberl lives as a busy musician, composer and lecturer in Vienna.

Alois has worked with Artists and groups like: Nouvelle Cuisine,Viera Blech, Bullhorns, James Morrison, Janus Ensemble and many others and has performed at the Landestheater Linz, and the Salzburger Festspiele.

www.myspace.com/aloiseberl

Christian Radovan / Trombone, Composition

Christian was born in 1962 in Linz Austria from where he moved to South Africa with his parents at the age of 7.

Since 1979 Christian has lived in Vienna,  Austria,  where he studied Jazz trombone at the Vienna Conservatory and joined the Vienna Art Orchestra in 1982 with whom he toured and recorded with for 17 years. (Africa, Asia, Europe, USA)

In 1989 Christian was appointed Senior Trombone lecturer at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, where he teaches and tutors various ensembles. Christian lives in Vienna and  works as a freelance musician and has performed with Artists including: Joe Zawinul, Eumir Deodato, Chaka Kahn, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, The Temptations,  Gloria Gaynor, Cecil Taylor, Raul de Souza, Carla Bley, Abdullah Ibrahim and many others.

www.christianradovan.com

RADOVAN-EBERL “ALPINE INSPIRATIONS”

 

Alois & Christian

CHRISTIAN RADOVAN & ALOIS EBERL

TROMBONEHEADS

"Tromboneheads"

Alois Eberl

Erik Hainzl

Martin Ptak

Christian Radovan

Tromboneheads, are Alois Eberl, Martin Ptak, Christian Radovan and Erik Hainzl, four trombone players whose musical backgrounds stem from both the classical and jazz worlds.

In the summer of 2010 they met in the beautiful Wachau Valley in Austria to compose and arrange for this unconventional line-up, the result being the discovery of an enormous range of musical possibilities made by combining their individual timbres, techniques, ideas and musical inspirations.

They combine their affection for film music, blues, african music, austrian traditional folk music and improvisation into their playing, and are sometimes joined by Mamadou Diabate (African percussion) and Adriano Adowale (Brazillian percussion) or remixer Georg Luksch.

Alois Eberl -  Trombone,Accordion,Vocals

Martin Ptak – Trombone,Keyboards,Vocals

Christian Radovan – Trombone,Percussion,Vocals

Erik Hainzl – Basstrombone,Tuba,Vocals