Andy Mokrus: Diabelli-Contest 2014

Andy Mokrus While still a small child, Andy Mokrus started playing all different kinds of music on the piano strictly by ear.
Having gone through the usual classical piano training in the 1970s, much of his time in the 80s was spent playing jazz and rock music with his bandmates.
During study trips he got in touch with the fascinating musical cultures of Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. He learned improving in the most common musical styles and was inspired to compose his own music where he frequently blends elements taken from different cultures.
Mokrus conceived his first program of music while being a student at the Hanover University of Music and Drama. The compositions written for the jazz-rock band PAIA were awarded the “Niedersächsischer Jazzpreis” in 1998.
This was followed by acoustic jazz projects, solo piano music influenced by classical music, and two programs of chansons that yielded a cultural award for him and his partner Traute Römisch in 2006.
In two collaborations with classical orchestras Mokrus again tried combining different musical genres. On 31 December 1999, he improvised with the Bamberg Symphony, performing a piece titled “Letzte Uraufführung des Jahrtausends”. His first concerto for piano and orchestra premiered in February 2005 with the Collegium Musicum.
A commission from the Church of Hanover in 2002/03 resulted in his writing a suite of 18 variations for jazz band (optionally with choir). The piece fuses jazz music with elements from contemporary classical music and was performed, for instance, at the “Festival der europäischen Kirchenmusik” in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 2004. The following year, the composition and the corresponding CD “Impressions En Suite” were awarded the “Jazzpreis des Landes Niedersachsen”.
As part of a work grant received from the federal state of Lower-Saxony, Mokrus in 2006-2007 wrote a piece for improvised piano and symphonic orchestra that takes up Eastern European musical traditions.
In a work commissioned by the “Jazz Art Niedersachsen” project, Mokrus combined chamber music with various improvisational forms, using a string quartet, vibraphone, piano and one wind player. The piece was performed in 15 concerts as part of the “JazzArt” Biennale and was broadcast by Norddeutscher Rundfunk in 2012.
For the opening of a permanent exhibition at Schloss Agathenburg, Mokrus wrote his “Kleine Barock Suite” for saxophone, double bass and piano (2011) where he combines the structure of a Bach suite with jazz sounds and improvisations.
Mokrus‘ „Code Irini“, which he wrote for the 2014 Diabelli Contest, blends techniques from minimal music with sounds associated with modern classical music.