Candlelight Ficus Extended
Candlelight Ficus is no longer just a brittle houseplant, but has now grown into a large musical tree. And it's growing like crazy. The Graz-based funk-pop band's energetic live shows leave no foot unturned. Earthy grooves, catchy pop melodies and archaic soul elements sweep mercilessly around your ears and straight into your bones. The sun is here. And with it the feel-good package Candlelight Ficus.
The brilliant show was a treat for all the senses, the funky music between Earth, Wind & Fire and Justin Timberlake, performed by thoroughbred musicians, got the blood pumping and was great fun! - Concerto Magazine
They are probably one of the hottest and tightest live acts in town. So on point that they would have shone even as a band for the strictest Godfather of Soul, James Brown - Kleine Zeitung
Günter Meinhart
Günter Meinhart has been teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz since 1995 and was previously director of the Ilz Music School for several years. In 1993 he founded the very successful STUDIO PERCUSSION school and in 2009 the AUSTRIAN PERCUSSION CAMP.Concerts and music theatre productions in / at Styriarte, Wiener Festwochen, Salzburger Festspiele, ars electronica, Seoul Drum Festival, Brucknerfest Linz, Steirischer Herbst, New York - festival mostly modern, Dubrovnik Festival, Music Biennale Zagreb, La Strada - Graz, Musikverein Wien, Jazzfestival Izmir, Narodni Dom Maribor, Konzerthaus Wien, Berliner Festspiele - maerzmusik, Osterfestival Innsbruck, Budapest, Jazzfestival Burghausen, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corfu, Istanbul, Ankara, Konzerthaus Berlin, musica con- temporanea - Bolzano, Porgy & Bess - Vienna, Pula, Lille, Strasbourg, Munich Theatre Festival, Rome Jazz Festival, Warsaw Autumn, Prague.
Raphael Meinhart
Born in 1986 in Deutschlandsberg. Studied classical percussion, instrumental and vocal pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and jazz vibraphone at the UDK Berlin. During his studies and beyond, he has performed in Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, England, Spain and Italy and has realised concerts and productions with Who Man Dog, Unchain Meinhart, Trio De Janeiro, Shackleton, Studio Percussion graz and Susana Sawoff , among others. He has also performed at the Graz Opera House and the Next Liberty.
Simon Windisch
Simon Windisch is an Austrian theatre director and theatre maker who works in German-speaking countries. He has worked for the Volkstheater Vienna, Staatstheater Augsburg, Landestheater Niederösterreich, Dschungel Wien and Schauspielhaus Graz, among others, and has received several awards for his directing work, dramatisations and play developments. He is a multiple winner of the STELLA. Performing Arts Award for young audiences. Together with theTaO! Theatre am Ortweinplatz and the theatre collective Follow the Rabbit, Windisch has been developing plays for young audiences for many years, as well as performances and theatre concepts for adults with the group Das Planetenparty Prinzip . In Vienna, he works with his collective bum bum pieces on robot plays and demolition houses. He is developing his first live VR production for the Augsburg State Theatre in 2022. He works with amateurs and professionals, with people and machines, cross-medially and curiously. In 2021, Simon Windisch was honoured with the outstanding artist award for performing arts of the Republic of Austria.
Strijbos & Van Rijswijk - artistic researcher
Strijbos & Van Rijswijk inspire the imagination with sound; their installations and compositions transform everyday places, objects, spaces and sometimes even thoughts. Their works can be seen at renowned festivals, concert halls and museums around the world - from Los Angeles to New York City, from Montreal to Geyonggi Province in South Korea. As part of the EU network IN SITU, La Strada has been working with Rob van Rijswijk and Jeroen Strijbos for several years on site-specific projects that reflect the respective living environment.
People are always and everywhere surrounded by sound. Each individual forms the centre of a personal sphere, a personal sound world. In a concert situation, however, it is self-evident that the music comes from one direction. This frontal approach reflects the separation between musicians and audience, between performer and consumer. As sound artists, Strijbos & Van Rijswijk pursue an approach that corresponds to the way people usually experience their environment, in spatial sound and image. They look beyond the mere composition of music and develop their soundscapes in the context of the environment in which the music is experienced. Composition and installation are interwoven.
