Ensemble Pipelife

The recorder ensemble was founded in the spring of 1999 by Andrea Bub, Kirsten Christmann, Annegret Friede and Gritli Kohler. The musicians studied in Karlsruhe, Berlin, Trossingen, Amsterdam, Den Haag, Copenhagen and Lyon; together, they completed their postgraduate artistic studies with Prof. Karel van Steenhoven at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe with distinction. Since 2005, Susanne Dick has also become a permanent member of the ensemble, giving the ensemble the opportunity of flexibly changing between quartet and quintet settings. In February 2000, the ensemble was awarded the first prize in the Wettbewerb für Alte Musik held by the Freundeskreis of the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe. Radio productions with the SWR (South-West German radio station) followed and an instrumental stipend was presented to the ensemble by the Kulturfonds Baden e.V. in connection with a chamber music competition. In September 2001, the ensemble was awarded the special prize at the Internationaler Wettbewerb für Junge Kultur in Düsseldorf together with vocalist Javier Hagen. A second prize was awarded to the ensemble at the Internationaler Blockflöten Wettbewerb Engelskirchen; the ensemble was also awarded a stipend by the Yehudi Menuhin-Foundation in November 2003. Pipelife regularly performs at venues at home and abroad and was the only German ensemble to have been invited to the International Young Artist’s Presentation in Antwerp in 2004. As well as music from the Middle Ages and from the (early) Baroque period, music from the Renaissance period is at the heart of the ensembles repertoire; this fact is reflected in a number of arrangements of compositions from this period. The intensive performance of contemporary music and the blending of music with other artistic means of expression make a strong contrast to the ensemble’s interpretations of early music. From this interest projects concerned with improvisation came to life, for example in cooperation with the Kunstakademie Karlsruhe, such as the Raum-Klang-Projektkonzerte as well as a number of compositions dedicated to Pipelife alongside their own works. Since February 2008, the ensemble is – in close cooperation with the renowned recorder manufacturers Mollenhauer – working on the improvement and perfection of the so called Kynseker-Consortrecorders in a project in cooperation with musicologists.