BIOGRAPHY OF DON LI
Don Li is doubtlessly one of the most visionary heads of the contemporary composer scene. His minimalism is not looking for the coverform, it is essence, condensed to the maximum, substance. It is this seeming paradox that makes Li‘s concept so fascinating – a concept that has been inspiring for numerous musicians.
Doris Lanz, Musicologist, Berne 2007
Don Li (*7th April, 1971, in Bern, Switzerland), composer, clarinettist, saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, originator of the musical concept of TONUS-MUSIC, founder and artistic director of the label TONUS-MUSIC-RECORDS, initiator and curator of TONUS-MUSIC LAB in Bern.
The autodidact played the drum, piano and saxophone as a child, wrote his first composition at the age of 16 and explored music with daily unintentional assiduity. As a young alto saxophonist he worked in numerous formations and played with musicians such as, among others, George Gruntz, Christy Doran, Harald Haerter, Malcolm Green, Joseph Bowie, Kelvin Bell, Dana Bryant, Jojo Mayer, Domum Romao, Mich Gerber, Jesse Murphy, Corinne Curschellas, Oumou Kouyaté, Maryam Sylla, Moriba Koita, Louis César Ewande, Matthieu Michel, Susanne Abbuehl, Asita Hamidi, Wolfert Brederode, Joseph Williamson, Thomas Jordi, Thomas Alkier, Ramesh Shotham and Art Lande. He has also appeared on many recordings and played concerts throughout all of Europe including Russia, occasionally within the scope of a festival.
Influenced by his interest in Indian music, minimalist music, minimalist art, conceptual art and Asian philosophy, he developed a distinctive character and consistency in his playing and in his concepts, both of which he has referred to as TONUS-MUSIC since 1993. His concepts highlight his interest in elements of metre, the interweaving and balance of rhythmic structures in combination with musical asceticism, and meditation. Thus far using this constantly evolving concept Don Li has written more than ninety compositions (Parts) that he has sequentially numbered since 1994. He compares his Parts to Japanese haikus, and describes them as “musical sculptures".
Don Li’s concept comprises at once a complete artistic aesthetic, which is artistically manifested both musically as well as visually. His concept has exerted lasting influence on many of his fellow musicians and students so that a TONUS-MUSIC movement is beginning to emerge. This brought Don Li to found TONUS-MUSIC-RECORDS in 1999: a small label with the purpose of marketing this unique music internationally under the slogan “the new musical movement from Europe”. As the producer and/or executive producer, Don Li publishes and guides recordings of, among others, Ania Losinger, Zimoun, Mik Keusen, Marco Repetto, Andreas Stahel, and also Nik Bärtsch and Kaspar Rast.
In the year 2000 he founded TONUS-MUSIC LAB in Bern for the consolidation and development of TONUS-MUSIC. It serves equally as a concert hall, recording studio, public rehearsal space, workshop venue, and teaching site, and rapidly established itself as the hub of the TONUS-MUSIC aesthetic for musicians, composers and an interested public. Don Li has presented more than 120 TONUS-MUSIC concerts in this beautiful, arched cellar in the middle of Bern’s old town, not least from Tibetan monks, a Butoh dancer and an Indian master, and meanwhile works persistently on his aesthetic concept with a network of more than 60 musicians.
Don Li’s TONUS-MUSIC is brought to various international festivals – from Willisau to New York – and meets with great public interest. After diverse commissioned works for, among others Ania Losinger (Xala and Symphony Orchestra), his newest works concern themselves with conscious structuring of time, that last exactly 60 minutes and integrate moving pictures from the film maker Pierre-Yves Borgeaud with surround-sound technique by way of computers.
Don Li is currently working on various projects; with Peter Scherer on a composition for rhythm section; a piece for the violinist Gwendolyn Masin, and on additional new works for his current trio OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE with Fabian Kuratli and Wolfgang Zwiauer. Beyond that in 2007 Pierre-Yves Borgeaud will begin his work on a Swiss television production about a new work by Don Li.
Don Li is doubtlessly one of the most visionary heads of the contemporary composer scene. His minimalism is not looking for the coverform, it is essence, condensed to the maximum, substance. It is this seeming paradox that makes Li‘s concept so fascinating – a concept that has been inspiring for numerous musicians.
Doris Lanz, Musicologist, Berne 2007
Don Li (*7th April, 1971, in Bern, Switzerland), composer, clarinettist, saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, originator of the musical concept of TONUS-MUSIC, founder and artistic director of the label TONUS-MUSIC-RECORDS, initiator and curator of TONUS-MUSIC LAB in Bern.
The autodidact played the drum, piano and saxophone as a child, wrote his first composition at the age of 16 and explored music with daily unintentional assiduity. As a young alto saxophonist he worked in numerous formations and played with musicians such as, among others, George Gruntz, Christy Doran, Harald Haerter, Malcolm Green, Joseph Bowie, Kelvin Bell, Dana Bryant, Jojo Mayer, Domum Romao, Mich Gerber, Jesse Murphy, Corinne Curschellas, Oumou Kouyaté, Maryam Sylla, Moriba Koita, Louis César Ewande, Matthieu Michel, Susanne Abbuehl, Asita Hamidi, Wolfert Brederode, Joseph Williamson, Thomas Jordi, Thomas Alkier, Ramesh Shotham and Art Lande. He has also appeared on many recordings and played concerts throughout all of Europe including Russia, occasionally within the scope of a festival.
Influenced by his interest in Indian music, minimalist music, minimalist art, conceptual art and Asian philosophy, he developed a distinctive character and consistency in his playing and in his concepts, both of which he has referred to as TONUS-MUSIC since 1993. His concepts highlight his interest in elements of metre, the interweaving and balance of rhythmic structures in combination with musical asceticism, and meditation. Thus far using this constantly evolving concept Don Li has written more than ninety compositions (Parts) that he has sequentially numbered since 1994. He compares his Parts to Japanese haikus, and describes them as “musical sculptures".
Don Li’s concept comprises at once a complete artistic aesthetic, which is artistically manifested both musically as well as visually. His concept has exerted lasting influence on many of his fellow musicians and students so that a TONUS-MUSIC movement is beginning to emerge. This brought Don Li to found TONUS-MUSIC-RECORDS in 1999: a small label with the purpose of marketing this unique music internationally under the slogan “the new musical movement from Europe”. As the producer and/or executive producer, Don Li publishes and guides recordings of, among others, Ania Losinger, Zimoun, Mik Keusen, Marco Repetto, Andreas Stahel, and also Nik Bärtsch and Kaspar Rast.
In the year 2000 he founded TONUS-MUSIC LAB in Bern for the consolidation and development of TONUS-MUSIC. It serves equally as a concert hall, recording studio, public rehearsal space, workshop venue, and teaching site, and rapidly established itself as the hub of the TONUS-MUSIC aesthetic for musicians, composers and an interested public. Don Li has presented more than 120 TONUS-MUSIC concerts in this beautiful, arched cellar in the middle of Bern’s old town, not least from Tibetan monks, a Butoh dancer and an Indian master, and meanwhile works persistently on his aesthetic concept with a network of more than 60 musicians.
Don Li’s TONUS-MUSIC is brought to various international festivals – from Willisau to New York – and meets with great public interest. After diverse commissioned works for, among others Ania Losinger (Xala and Symphony Orchestra), his newest works concern themselves with conscious structuring of time, that last exactly 60 minutes and integrate moving pictures from the film maker Pierre-Yves Borgeaud with surround-sound technique by way of computers.
Don Li is currently working on various projects; with Peter Scherer on a composition for rhythm section; a piece for the violinist Gwendolyn Masin, and on additional new works for his current trio OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE with Fabian Kuratli and Wolfgang Zwiauer. Beyond that in 2007 Pierre-Yves Borgeaud will begin his work on a Swiss television production about a new work by Don Li.