Marco Blaauw

Marco Blaauw enjoys an international solo career and is a member of Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne, Germany. An important focus of his work is to further develop the instrument and its playing technique, and to initiate new repertoire.

Marco works in close collaboration with both the established and younger composers of our time. Many composers have written works especially for him, including Péter Eötvös, Georg Friedrich Haas, Rebecca Saunders, Wolfgang Rihm and John Zorn. He also worked intensely with Karlheinz Stockhausen for 17 years.

In 2015 Marco established the trumpet ensemble Monochrome Project. In direct collaboration with composer La Monte Young, he presented an eight-trumpet version of Young’s work The Second Dream of the High Tension Line Stepdown Transformer to audiences throughout Europe.

In 2016 Marco initiated ‘Global Breath’, a worldwide research project focussed on the trumpet. The first stage of this research will culminate in a presentation by international pioneers from different genres and cultural backgrounds in a Global Breath festival in 2021.

Last year Marco intensified his collaboration with painter Gerhard Richter and filmmaker Corinna Belz, producing the soundtrack to the film Moving Picture (946-3), with music for trumpet and live electronics by Rebecca Saunders. From 2020 onwards he will present this project in festivals, concert halls, museums and art galleries.

Marco Blaauw is also intensely active as a teacher.  He gives masterclasses internationally and has taught at the International Darmstadt Summer Courses, the Stockhausen Courses Kürten and the Lucerne Festival Academy.