Ausklang II

Malakoff Kowalski
Musicbanda Franui
Die Strottern
JazzWerkstatt Wien

Ausklang, the fall festival of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl - which has opened every season since 2024 - will mark its third edition in 2026. Curator Andreas Schett Once again this year, it brings together artists from a wide variety of musical genres for the Closing Together in Erl: Classical music meets folk music, jazz, pop, world music, and more. The moments of surprise created by unexpected musical sequences are intentional.

Day two kicks off with the German-American-Persian musician, singer, and composer Malakoff Kowalski. His music straddles the line between the European piano tradition, jazz, and lyricism. The Viennese acoustic duo The Strotterns returns after his performance at the first Closing He's back in 2024 with his new project Seven Plums together with the Jazz Workshop Vienna onto the stage.

Always present in the interplay is the Musicbanda Franui. The “Local Heroes,” together with their creative leader Andreas Schett, will once again serve as musical hosts.

Team

Malakoff Kowalski

“What I know: My parents were born in Tehran, I was born in Boston, I grew up in Hamburg, and I live in Berlin today. I love nothing as much as music. Everything else is question marks, exclamation points, and dashes.” This is how musician and composer Malakoff Kowalski describes himself. He cites Debussy, Scriabin, and Frederic Mompou as his role models, though jazz and psychedelic music from the ’50s and ’60s are just as important to him. In addition to solo projects, he also works as a film and theater composer. For years, he has collaborated closely with film director Klaus Lemke and director and playwright Angela Richter. He wrote stage music for Stefan Bachmann’s production of Parzival at the Schauspiel Köln and Stephan Kimmig's production Faust, Part I at the Stuttgart State Theater. His first solo album was released in 2009, New German Travel Songs, released his first solo piano album in 2018 My First Piano. Most recently published in 2025 Songs With Lyrics, a recording created in collaboration with Igor Levit, Johanna Summer, and Chilly Gonzales.

Musicbanda Franui

Franui ist der Name einer Almwiese im Osttiroler Dorf Innervillgraten, in dem der Großteil der Musiker:innen der gleichnamigen Musicbanda aufgewachsen ist. Franui spielt seit 1993 in nahezu unveränderter Besetzung und ist bei vielen Festivals und Veranstaltern zu Gast, u. a. im Wiener Konzerthaus, am Burgtheater, bei den Salzburger und Bregenzer Festspielen, an der Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, bei den Münchner Opernfestspielen, in der Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, der Philharmonie de Paris und am Schauspielhaus Zürich. Mit seinen Neuinterpretationen der Lieder von Schubert, Schumann, Brahms und Mahler wurde das Ensemble weitum bekannt. Es versteht sich als „Umspannwerk zwischen Klassik, Volksmusik, Jazz und zeitgenössischer Kammermusik“. Die Musiker:innen arbeiten häufig mit herausragenden Bühnenpartner:innen zusammen, u. a. mit dem Bassbariton Florian Boesch, dem Puppenspieler Nikolaus Habjan, dem Wienerlied-Duo Die Strottern und dem Kabarett-Duo Maschek.

Die Strottern

The acoustic duo Die Strottern have, by their own account, been “dusting off” the Wienerlied—both musically and in terms of content—for over 20 years. In the late 1980s, Klemens Lendl and David Müller began making music together. When they met the poet Peter Ahorner around the turn of the millennium, they found their musical home in the “New Viennese Song.” In 2003, they released their first CD featuring original songs. Time and again, Die Strottern collaborate with musicians from other genres to seek out new and contemporary forms of expression and themes for the Viennese folk song. This has led to joint programs with the JazzWerkstatt Wien, Ensemble Mikado, Franui, Hannes Löschel, Christoph Bochdansky, Matthias Schorn, Willi Resetarits, Velvet Elevator, Ramsch & Rosen, Barbara Romen & Gunter Schneider, Zur Wachauerin, Maja Osojnik, Lukas Kranzelbinder, Matthias Loibner, as well as with their “DeLuxe lineup” Die Strottern & Blech (featuring Martin Eberle on trumpet/flugelhorn and Martin Ptak on trombone/harmonium). The ensemble has received numerous awards.

JazzWerkstatt Wien

The JazzWerkstatt Wien is an unconventional artists’ collective that serves as an institution, a hub, a haven, a source of inspiration, and a partner to many international bands, musicians, and composers. When it was founded in 2004, the JazzWerkstatt Wien was regarded throughout Europe as a radical, pioneering project. JazzWerkstatt Wien provides a comprehensive infrastructure within which the collective organizes itself to create the conditions and opportunities within the scene that are lacking and that artists desire. The JazzWerkstatt Wien engages in public relations, runs the JazzWerkstatt Records label, organizes festivals and concerts, seeks out the next generation through competitions, and develops interdisciplinary event concepts. The JazzWerkstatt Wien deliberately takes a broad view of the term “jazz.” Jazz is understood less as a genre and more in its sociopolitical context. It is not about a specific kind of aesthetic, but rather about a specific way of making music.