Drums/Percussion

drums

My first contact with the drums was in music class at secondary school. From then on, playing the drums never let me go. 

At 15, I founded my first band, "Patients." I played in this crossover band for six years. These experiences, whether the performances or the CD recordings in Denmark, had a lasting influence on my playing.

Besides my own music, I have diverse musical tastes. However, one band or artist has significantly influenced my musical development. I'm a huge fan of Genesis. The incredible drumming elements of the 70s and 80s, in particular, have shaped my own style.

Playing at applied-sounds means for me to contribute my own development to the project and to benefit from the experiences of others.  

Hammond organ

A brief history of my music

Good sound fascinates and captivates me.

There are pieces of music that give me goosebumps when I hear them. They evoke an emotional experience, a feeling. That's what I try to capture in my own music.

That's why I'm committed to Applied Sounds.  

The first "real" instrument I systematically learned – after the recorder and harmonica – was the accordion. At around eight years old, I joined an accordion club and progressed from the beginner orchestra to the first orchestra. Concerts took me to places like Amsterdam and Berlin. 

As a teenager, I was infected by the Hammond organ bug and its sound. That bug is still with me today. The Nice, with Keith Emerson on the Hammond organ, sparked the explosion of my musical worldview with their song "Brandenburger." Jon Lord with Deep Purple and Rick van der Linden with Ekseption, with their fusion of classical and rock music, left a profound mark on my own musical development. 

I bought my first electric organ (a Vox Continental), built and played a two-manual Dr. Böhm organ for years, and then achieved a sound almost identical to a Hammond organ with my Korg BX 3. Synthesizers (Polysix, DX 7) were added later, offering fantastic possibilities for creating my own sounds.

For over a decade, I led a Christian pop group, introducing contemporary songs to churches in various communities. For several years, I accompanied the "Frame Band" using one of the first portable 8-track tape recorders. With "Zambos Blues Band," I delighted audiences of all ages for over 10 years at birthday parties, open-air concerts, and jazz festivals.

I've been with Applied Sounds since the beginning. And I increasingly feel like I'm getting closer and closer to realizing my musical dreams.

Johannes Ohlert 

eGuitar

Not necessarily the instrument one would find in an orchestra, but APPLIED SOUNDS (AP) is not a normal orchestra either.

I got into guitar during a bored day in the Christmas holidays. After a short time with guitar lessons as a primary school student, "the good old thing" gathered dust in a cupboard for years until it was revived by a 16-year-old. And lo and behold, if you want to do something and enjoy it, everything just falls into place. I simply learned a few chords and strummed my first Nirvana and AC/DC songs. A short time later, I had to get my first electric guitar! My first band (the school band) quickly followed, along with a few gigs that, in retrospect, were rather embarrassing, but were amazing back then! Things didn't quite take off like that, but making music has been a nice and enjoyable part of life ever since. I really enjoy jamming with other musicians; you don't always have to start a band right away! 

I got involved with AP through our university's then-presidency. Since I was also the cultural affairs officer in the student union at the Giessen University of Applied Sciences, the university administration asked me if I would help with founding an orchestra. Well, I just went for it. I met René, who explained what he wanted to do, it sounded great, I handed out flyers, and AP was born because a harmonica-playing conductor had a nice idea, and I thought it was great too. 

What's nice about AP is that as a musician, I have a lot of freedom and can strongly incorporate my funk preferences into AP's overall sound. Of course, this is only possible thanks to the other musicians.

All I can say about AP is experience it LIVE!  

® mr. evil guitar roiteri

René Giessen

None other than the legendary conductor Raphael Kubelik discovered René Giessen. He couldn't believe it when he was told that a 15-year-old boy was able to play Pablo de Sarazate's "Zigeunerweisen" on the chromatic harmonica. René Giessen played the piece for Kubelik, and the great conductor subsequently became Giessen's fatherly mentor. Giessen was already enjoying considerable success within the broadcasting area of ​​Bavarian Radio in Munich and aspired to a further career as a harmonica virtuoso. Kubelik nevertheless advised him not to pursue his musical path in the "small" world of the harmonica, but rather to seek a path in the wider world of music. Giessen followed his advice. From 1963, he studied orchestral clarinet at the Munich Academy of Music. Through a fellow student, he also attended composition classes with Günther Bialas and conducting classes with Jan Koetzier. However, his conducting style is still influenced by Raphael Kubelik.

The fact that he initially began his musical journey with a chromatic harmonica, despite his affinity for the great classical composers Mozart and Beethoven, repeatedly led him back to popular music. His recordings of famous films made the sound of his harmonica world-renowned. After studying in Munich, René Giessen worked as principal clarinetist in several symphony orchestras. After decades as principal clarinetist, Giessen decided to focus more intensely on his work as a composer, conductor, and harmonica soloist.

His world tour at the turn of the millennium with Haitor Villa-Lobos's Harmonica Concerto, beginning with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Berlin Philharmonie and ending with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, was a sensational success. Orchestras increasingly took notice of his compositions, and in 2001 he premiered his Fantasy on "Help, Help the Globulinks," a homage to the great American composer Giancarlo Menotti, followed in 2002 by his New Orleans Concerto for three clarinets and orchestra. From 2003 to 2005, the world premieres of his Flute Concerto "The Bird" (for Carol Brown flute), Windjammer Suite for large orchestra, Iron Hans, a symphonic poem for large orchestra, the Violin Concerto (Jennysey Concerto), and the Rhapsody for Clarinet and String Orchestra "Mandragora" followed. The latter was composed for his friend and principal clarinetist of the WDR Cologne, Andy Miles. The composition of the Violin Concerto prompted him to relocate from the Rhine-Main region (Frankfurt) to southern Germany (Allgäu). There, in 2005, he founded a summer academy for highly gifted clarinetists, where each year he explores the clarinet in relation to other instruments. At the first forum in 2005, the clarinet was compared to string instruments (Chamber Orchestra of the Russian State Philharmonic).

René Giessen's career has made him at home in all musical styles. This is evidenced by his collaborations with such diverse musical personalities as Dimitri Tiomkin, Martin Böttcher, Frederic Talgorn, David Shalon, and György Kurtág. The fact that Cecilia Rodrigo, the daughter of the great Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo, commissioned René Giessen to definitively orchestrate and premiere the rhapsody "Aldeas de España" for harmonica and orchestra underscores his significance in the music world.