Louisa Marxen, born 1982, started her musical education in percussion in Luxembourg. She very quickly developed a keen interest in contemporary music and continued her studies in Frankfurt and Basel.
In addition to many premieres of young contemporary composers, she has worked with eminent composers such as Carola Bauckholt, Isabel Mundry, Fritz Hauser and Georg Friedrich Haas, among others.
She recently staged her own solo performance and is also a co-founder of Eunoia Quintett. She regularly performs at many new music festivals including Wien Modern, Lucerne Festival and others. Louisa particularly enjoys collaborating with visual artists, dancers and actors. She has toured all throughout Europe, Asia and Russia.
: HAS PLAYED
Wien Modern (AT), Lucerne Festival (CH), Zeiträume Basel (CH), Musikfestival Bern (CH), Festival Usine Sonore Bévilard (CH), Festival de la Cité Lausanne (CH), Festival Rümlingen (CH), Tage für Neue Musik Zürich (CH), Eesti Muusika Päevad (EE), Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt (DE), Donaueschinger Musiktage (DE), Schwetzinger Festspiele (DE), Märzmusik Berlin (DE), Piano+ ZKM Karlsruhe (DE).
: PRESS QUOTES
" ... glückte das der Percussionistin Louisa Marxen, die ... klarmachte, dass jeder Schlag, jeder Knall, jedes Geräusch immer zugleich auch Klang ist, und damit an den legendären Joachim Ernst Behrendt erinnerte, der uns bereits vor Jahrzehnten zu verstehen gab: "Die Welt ist Klang". Nikolaus Cybinski, Badischen Zeitung
“Es ist eine Freude, Louisa Marxen zuzuhören, die mit ihrem ganzen Können und viel Engagement diese gesamte TNL-Performance gestaltet.” - Alain Steffen, Tageblatt
“…war Louisa Marxens Spiel exzellent. Vor allem beeindruckte die Perkussionistin mit unendlichen vielen Nuancen und Farben, selbst an Stellen, wo man diese nicht vermuten würde. Fazit: Es war ein gut getimter, experimenteller und sehr inspirierender Abend mit einer gut aufgelegten Künstlerin…” - Alain Steffen im Tageblatt
: BIOGRAPHY
Louisa Marxen, born 1982 in Luxembourg, started her musical education age 7 at the Conservatoire de Luxembourg. Attending the class of Emmanuel Séjourné, she graduated with a Prix Supérieur in percussion. She then completed a degree in instrumental studies with a focus on performance and teaching at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt/Main. In 2011, she finalized her studies with a master degree in performance and contemporary music working with Jürg Henneberger and Christian Dierstein.
Her interest in contemporary music quickly developed during her time in Frankfurt, attending the class of Rainer Römer, percussionist at the Ensemble Modern. In addition to assimilating the classical percussion repertoire, she has always been eager to collaborate with young and upcoming composers. She now also develops her own projects, such as her solo performance of 2018, in which she commissioned four composers to create new work. Besides exploiting the variety of percussion instruments, she likes to experiment with new devices and unusual sound. Together with composer Carola Bauckholt they created a solo for vacuum cleaner, executed with a lot of humour and scenic sensibility.
Louisa particularly enjoys the interaction with other artists, often working in tight collaboration with actors, dancers and visual artists. She also performed in the children’s programme Musek erzielt directed by Dan Tanson at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg.
Louisa has toured all over Europe, Asia and Russia and worked with many eminent contemporary artists and composers: Carola Bauckholt, Isabel Mundry, Georg Friedrich Haas, Fritz Hauser and Joachim Schloemer. As a guest artist she performed at numerous festivals for new music: Lucerne Festival, Tage für Neue Musik Zürich, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Ferienkurse für neue Musik Darmstadt, Eesti Muusika Päevad in Tallinn, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Piano+ ZKM Karlsruhe, etc.
She is a founding member of Eunoia Quintett and member of the board of the Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik IGNM Basel. Since 2014, she moderates Klanggespräche, an educational project for adults in contemporary music, lead by the Volkshochschule Basel and Gare du Nord. She also teaches percussion at various music schools in Switzerland.
Louisa lives in Basel with her partner and son.
