Music for visual art
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Who we are and what we do
For us, film and photography are amongst the greatest forms of expression in art and culture! At the core of our music is a visual aspect. We create worlds of sound that focus on the emotions, rhythm and environment of a scene.
Highly emotional and individual – in order to complement visual artistry as effectively as possible.
We are a team of three musicians:
Alexander von Wegen, jazz/pop multi-instrumentalist
Dong Zhou, multimedia composer and media artist
and Pia Davila, singer.
With our instruments and voices, we unfold worlds of sound which encourage an audible awareness of physical spaces – in their three dimensions and their own particular acoustical properties. In this way, scenes are formed both visually and tonally. Through our specific sound design, an audiovisual, holistic depiction of space is created. Music opens up a deep, individual world of emotions in each of us. Through these worlds, space becomes an emotionally charged environment, formed and recollected not only by what is seen, but what is heard: the particular acoustics of a room intensify our impression of it, and the emotions we associate with it.
To work in an interdisciplinary way, to exchange ideas with one another, to innovate, and to move people with our music – that is our common vision. Each of us learns to empathize with the director’s visions and methods, remaining at the same time flexible and inquisitive; synergy is created through communication. We view ourselves as supporters of filmmakers, aiming to bring about the most intense depiction of a scene by addressing our varied senses.
As full-time, well-educated musicians, we all feel at home in the world of concerts and performances.
Alexander von Wegen is a jazz and pop multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, guitar, saxophone and percussion, and offers a wide range of groovy, relaxed sounds from slow jazz, funk and pop.
Dong Zhou, born in China, is at home in the more experimental musical form of multimedia compositions. She has extensive knowledge in digitally editing sounds, tones, soundscapes and noises. Her music is electrifying, ethereal, very playful and forward-thinking, sometimes unsettling.
Pia Davila’s vocal mastery, although the result of a classical training, is versatile, inspiring her to explore many different musical styles. She makes use of experimental vocal techniques in contemporary music; equally, she can express through the purity of classical singing an artlessness both elegant and moving – whether with or without words.
Pia Davila can be contacted regarding musical ideas, artistic exchange and organizational questions.
Unsere Musik
The artists
Pia Davila
Sängerin
As a soprano, the work of Pia Davila covers opera, oratorio, and has a particular focus on song. She is particularly interested in the contemporary: classic today, art today, the tradition for today. Pia Davila is a versatile singer and artist, and is always looking for new ideas and exciting collaborations.
Pia Davila has received prizes in national and international competitions and has participated in productions with the Dutch National Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Theater Bremen, and the Staatsoper Hamburg. In March 2018, the singer graduated with honors from Prof. Jörn Dopfer at the Hamburg University of Music and Theater (HfMT).
Alexander von Oppenbach, mulitinstrumentalist
Alexander von Oppenbach began to play the piano at the age of four, starting an ongoing and continuous occupation with music. In addition to learning classical works, improvisation and composition played an important role for him at an early stage. At the age of 14, he first got to know the world of jazz and also began to learn classical guitar. In the following years he played as a guitarist and pianist in various band projects, gained his first stage experience and attended regular sessions.
In 2012 he moved to Hamburg to study sound engineering, where he first joined a theater production of the HfMT as a guitarist in and also began to teach guitar and piano. The “ÄLÄX” duo with drummer Alexander Reger was founded out of the theater rehearsals and developed into a very productive and busy project.
During his studies, Alexander von Oppenbach worked for the first time for film and game productions, developed his ear training and harmony knowledge and initiated a solo project for his jazzy-spherical music under the name “Von Wegen”, with which he also played some improvised festival concerts and released three albums. After moving back to Cologne in 2017, this was followed by the “Von Wegen Trio”, which also produced two live albums with the same improvisational concept.
As a member of the "Raw Suppliers" collective, he has increasingly become a saxophonist since 2016. From this collective, amongst many collaborations the jazz band "Cheddar" was formed, which played through Hamburgs clubs.
Alexander von Oppenbach has been living in Hamburg again since 2019, where, in addition to his teaching work, he also works in advertising music for the sound agency Groves Sound Branding.
Dong Zhou (ab Januar 2021), composer
Dong Zhou is a composer, multimedia artist and performer based in Hamburg. She gained her B. A. in music engineering in Shanghai conservatory and M.A. in multimedia composition in Hamburg University of Music and Drama. She won several prizes including the first prize of “Sound of Shanghai” soundscape recording competition, the first prize of 2018 ICMC Hacker-N-Makerthon and the finalist of 2019 Deutscher Musikwettbewerb. Her work was included in ‘Sound of World’ Microsoft ringtones collection and she was commissioned by Shanghai International Art Festival, Hamburg CLAB Festival and ZKM Karlsruhe.