NATIONAL MOUNTAIN ORCHESTRA (Switzerland/Austria)

Heiri Känzig - Musical director, bass
The Swiss bass player, who was born in New York, is among the few European jazz musicians that can be found on American major labels like Verve or Blue Note. His musical openness also brought him into contact with musicians from pop music or classical music. He performed more than 70 CD recordings and gained international acknowledgement above all with the Vienna Art Orchestra. Heiri Känzig’s subtle work on the borderlines between styles and cultures distinguished him to direct the project.

Zabine - Yodelling
Sabine Kapfinger is the complete name of the lady who set out as Zabine to teach yodelling to people all over the world. She became famous under the name of Alpine Sabine with her appearances with the folk music rebel Hubert von Goisern and his Alpine Cats. After the band stopped performing she traveled to India and Africa. “I wanted to find back my voice and put it into a new context. I wanted to come back to my very own vision”. The result is “a creative sweeping attack of a musical single fighter that dares to dream in dreamless-cold times like today” - and creates a very unique musical microcosm.

Paul Haag - Alphorn, buechel, trombone
Paul Haag started classical trombone studies in Basel in 1956 and subsequently changed over to jazz music. Some 15 years ago he started to play alphorn as well. In 1973 he had great success with Magog at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Haag performed with Alpine Experience in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Australia. In 2000 he founded his own alphorn formation The Horns, a quintet that caused quite a stir with its further developed Alpine sounds.

Melanie Schiesser –
Schwyzerörgeli (Swiss accordion), alphorn, buechel, trumpet, vocals
The musical roots of Melanie Schiesser are in the traditional folk music of the Glarnerland. Starting in 1983, Melanie performed together with her sisters in the family band Echo vom Kammerstock playing Swiss Accordion, trumpet and piano all over Switzerland and in the neighboring states and was often to be seen and heard in radio and TV shows. Yodelling, alphorn and buechel playing are still included in the music of Melanie today.

Patricia Dräger - Accordion
She had her first accordion lessons at the age of four, later she also learnt transverse flute at the music school of Zug. In Winterthur she studied transverse flute and passed with honors in 1998. This was followed by a degree with the main subject contemporary music. In 1995 she obtained admission to post-graduate studies in music, also with honors. Since then, she works as conductor and actress in various theatrical productions.

Roland Schildknecht – Hammered dulcimer
Roland Schildknecht was born in the canton of Glarus and learnt the play on the hammered dulcimer almost auto didactically. In the beginning of the 80s, he started to combine alpine folk music with jazz and rock elements and to experiment with the possibilities of the hammered dulcimer. In 1983, he founded the folk-jazz-rock group Schiltpatt. This band performed on various festivals in Switzerland and abroad and can be heard on various recordings and CDs.

Marc Halbheer - Drums, percussion
Marc Halbheer discovered his passion for drums in his youth. Since those days, he consequently developed his skills. Today he is a master of these instruments. He studied with teachers like Ralph Humphrey or the long-time Frank Zappa band member Ed Man in Los Angeles. During this time, he made friends with his most important musical companions Yiotis Kiourtsoglou, Lior Yekutieli and Martin Tillman. Since 1992, he is lecturer for percussion and rhythmic at the music university of Lucerne.

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