• LISTENING
  • PRESENCE-MOVEMENT
  • SOUND
  • IMAGINATION
  • INTERPRETATION
  • IMPROVISATION
  • RHYTHM

Sašo Vollmaier

Pianist, Composer, Performer, Voice teacher
Lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia & Malérargues, France

Listening. This is where I feel at home and where my personal research and work starts from. How do I hear myself/the others? How do I listen to myself/the others?
I include the piano in my work, understanding this instrument as a second voice.

After graduating from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, Vollmaier worked in a genre-diversified variety of settings, extending from chamber music ensembles to alternative bands. He has been associated with the avant-garde music group Laibach since 2007, as a piano and keyboard player as well as an arranger and studio musician. Finding inspiration in the output of the front-runners of Slovenian industrial sound, Sašo’s piano solo project includes covers of several Laibach tracks, most notably Smrt za smrt, Krvava gruda, Ti, ki izzivaš and Le privilege des morts. Sašo moves between two worlds, the classical and the industrial, questing for connections between them by synthesizing repetition, minimalism and a broad dynamic range.

In 2003 he meets “Pantheatre” (Paris, FR). This collaboration opened new area and possibilities about the voice work which he followed after as an accompanist for singers, teaching in different musical institutions and playing with several musicians in various musical formations.

He joined the Slovenian avant-garde music group Laibach in 2007-2013 as a keyboard player. The experience with Laibach was crucial in understanding the elements of the industrial music, curiosity about politics, awareness of oneself and the opportunity to express himself in this particular musical genre.

In 2013 – 2018 he moved to France for personal and professional development where he created music-theatre-pieces and developed his presence on the stage as performer through his voice, movement and music.
The voice work brought him to Malérargues (Centre Artistique International Roy Hart) where he started to give classes, collaborating with other voice teachers and giving the concerts and performances.

In the same year he begins the project called “Generation” as a musical director.This project allowed him to meet the Roy Hart Theatre in terms of the power of the presence, fragility, expression, authenticity, curiosity. One of the most important collaborations happened with Paul Silber. They created several projects which were directed by Clara Silber-Harris.

Vollmaier teaches musical aspects, encourages the students to invent their own language, working on presence, voice and movement. This structure allows him to define his direction. In 2013 he started to collaborate with Susanne Weins, giving the voice/movement workshops in Düsseldorf and creating their own theatre productions (Bewegte Oktaven, Fragile Breath, Melancholia, Feng Cha,…) most of them directed by Sabine Seume.

He works as a voice teacher & pianist/accompanist mainly in France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Switzerland, Slovenia.
Vollmaier’s accomplishments include theatre and cartoon scores, choral arrangements, marching orchestras, big bands, playing and recording as a studio musician.
He speaks Slovenian, English and “street” French.

Contact

E-Mail: info@sasovollmaier.com
Website: https://www.sasovollmaier.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saso.vollmaier/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/s.vollmaier
Photo: Nika Hölcl Praper

Discography:
– ‘On voulait tout casser’, Movie by Philippe Guillard (music:Maxime Lebidois & Roméo Guillard), piano (2015)
– Nika Vistoropski: Ljuba, piano & voice (2015)
– Laibach: Spectre, industrial (2014)
– Laibach: Iron Sky, industrial (2013)
– Bratko Bibič & The Madleys: Kabinet čudes Brutka Bimbiča, Avant-Garde, international, classical, experimental (2013)
– Polona Kasal: Na cesti, electronic, indie, nu-wave (2013)
– Laibach: Monumental Retro-Avant-Garde, Live at Tate Modern, industrial (2012)
– Laibach: Revisited, industrial
– Silence: Musical Accompaniment For The End Of The World, alternative (2012)
– Zbudimo Kralja Matjazza, world, folk, experimental (2011)
– New Creatives: Soul Food, soul, funk (2009)
– Funtango: History, tango (2008)
– Sonja Lovrenčič: Filomundus, world, cabaret, jazz(2006)
– Haim Isaacs: The hole in the wall, world, experimental (2006)