The vibraphonist and composer, Pascal Schumacher has made a name for himself in a variety of collaborative endeavours.
From quartets to symphonic orchestras, jazz tunes to classical chamber music, he has built a unique relationship with his instrument and has been relentless in assuring his position as a versatile and adventurous musician.
This April, he launches his solo album, SOL via Neue Meister label. SOL captures Pascal’s newfoundpassion for solitude in all its magnetism. Yet, it remains true to a relationship’s main characteristic; intimacy.
: PRESS QUOTES
"The music was ethereal and dreamy, a pastel soundscape achieving a lovely anthemic quality towards the end as the aural sky widened. Vibraphone floated like dense fog and the guitarist avoided any Bill Frisell-ian cliché. Steve Reich would have found this mesmerizing". - Ken Waxman, The New York City Jazz Record
"Drops & Points ist ein wundervoll feingliedriges Ergebnis, dass sich einerseits historischer Vorbilder bewusst ist, anderseits aber auch notwendige Distanzen kultiviert – ja, kultivieren muss. Heute gilt der Spruch „sich selbst immer wieder neu erfinden“ zu müssen mehr denn je, bringt man damit nicht nur sich selbst, sondern das ganze Genre voran." - Kultur Port
: BIOGRAPHY
Pascal Schumacher’s relationship with the vibraphone began as many love stories tend to; at first sight. His unique aptitude and sensitivity with the instrument are unparalleled, having been developed in no less than four of Europe’s most notable conservatories including the Luxembourg Conservatory where he now teaches percussion and jazz vibraphone, and over a 25-year long career. Keen to explore the links that exist between many musical genres, it is difficult to pigeon–hole his talent, his taste or his musical influences.
Schumacher’s musical partnerships and projects resemble his eclectic nature. His work with Jef Neve has been described as somewhere between pop-infused contemporary music and classic- infused jazz. Pascal Schumacher and Francesco Tristano, also recognised as a European Concert Hall Organization “Rising Star”, performed as a trio with the Lebanese percussionist Bachar Khalife? sharing with audiences fascinating insights on the beauty of the journey into the contemporary sound experience. The Pascal Schumacher Quartet creatively destroyed all notions of the polite dinner jazz associations of the past and produced a contemporary sound that is beautiful, melodic and effortlessly articulated. Their 5th studio album, Bang My Can was launched in 2012 to critical acclaim.
As a composer, Schumacher writes not only for the duo, trio, quartet and chamber music ensembles, but has also created and produced film, theatre and dance projects. He was involved in the groundbreaking multimedia project CTRL variations and a trans-disciplinary theatre project entitled LUXTIME – Jacques Tati revisited. The glorious soundtrack written to accompany the 1929 silent film A Woman one longs for directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring the incomparable Marlene Dietrich, was premiered as a Live Film-Concert in the Philharmonie Luxembourg in May 2012, conducted by Christian Schumann. Since 2018, Schumacher is also the artistic director of the innovative 'Reset' Music Festival at Abbaye Neimenster, and an Ambassador for SOS Children's Villages International - Luxembourg. Since winning the Django D’Or for Young Talent in 2005, Schumacher has been relentless in assuring his position as an outstanding artist and composer.
He consistently achieves recognition in being awarded some of Jazz Music’s most prestigious titles, from the ECHO JAZZ for International Instrumentalist of the year in 2012 and 2013 to the JTI Trier Award for inter- regional achievements across the Euroregion of Saar-Lor-Lux. In 2018 Schumacher premiered and recorded his composition ROSACE.8 with the outstanding Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.
2018 also marked a new beginning for Pascal Schumacher, who upon invitation to play at Jazz & The City Festival In Salzburg, started to develop his own solo material. The experience opened up an entirely new path for the composer culminating in his debut solo album, SOL. SOL captures Schumacher’s newfound passion for solitude in all its magnetism all the while remaining true to the main characteristic of his relationship with the vibraphone; intimacy. SOL will be released via Neue Meister in April 2020.
