about
When the Unspoken Orchestra takes the stage, only four musicians appear:
Helena Bühler (voice)
Maurice Storrer (tenor sax)
Felix Geidel (piano & composition)
Luzi Niederhauser (bass)
They met while studying at the Lucerne University of Music and now share both a musical and a personal bond.
They merge contemporary jazz elements and classical chamber textures to paint the impression of an entire orchestra.
Helena Bühler – Voice
Helena Bühler’s rich, colorful voice embodies the soaring unison lines of the violins, the contrapuntal interplay of the violas and the crystalline melodies
of the trumpets—each phrase lingering
in the audience’s mind.
With her many-faceted tone,
she becomes the unifying thread
woven through the orchestral tapestry of the Unspoken Orchestra.
Felix Geidel - piano,composition
They provide the musical elements that catch the ear at first, yet are so vital that, without them, the entire piece suddenly feels oddly empty:
the subtle string tremolo in the mid-range, the driving thirty-second-note rhythm of the percussionist,
and the discreet but decisive three-part cello voicing each unobtrusively
yet resolutely shape the work’s character.
He spins the harmonic mesh that binds every orchestra member and sets the compositional framework for the vivid picture listeners paint in their minds of the Unspoken Orchestra.
Maurice Storrer - Tenor Saxophone
He is the sturdy core of the orchestra:
sometimes melding quietly in unison with the cellos, sometimes letting the main themes truly glow under the trombone section’s gentle emphasis.
His saxophone tone brings unexpected tension, sweeping over the ensemble’s smooth orchestral texture and rousing the audience whenever they threaten to slumber in the second movement.
Gian-Luzi-Niederhauser - Bass
An orchestra without a deep register feels adrift and undefined.
In the orchestra pit,
Luzi Niederhauser embodies everything that lays a clear foundation, safeguarding the Unspoken Orchestra from an identity crisis.
Do the bass trombones play in unison with the double basses,
or is it the tuba doubling the theme four octaves below?
