Mensch, Musik! #9 – “Leading (Astray)”

Jonathan Stockhammer has made a name for himself on both sides of the Atlantic in the world of opera, classical symphony and contemporary music. As an excellent communicator, he has a special talent for presenting concerts and creates a working relationship on an equal footing with a wide variety of participants – whether in large opera production teams, with young musicians, young rappers or stars like Bully Herbig and the Pet Shop Boys.
His operatic conducting list, including Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy, Sciarrino’s Luci mie traditrici and Damon Albarn’s Monkey: Journey to the West, shows him as a conductor who embraces and masters complex scores and cross-genre productions as a welcome challenge. He has been a regular guest at the Opéra de Lyon since 1998, where he recently conducted Ravel’s L’heure espagnole. In 2009 he performed two works by Wolfgang Rihm, Proserpina and Deus Passus, with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2013 he made his New York City Opera debut in Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face. In 2016 he was a guest for the first time for a new production of Peter Eötvös’ Tri Sestri (Three Sisters) at the Vienna State Opera, to which he returned in spring 2020. In 2019 he made his debut at the Zurich Opera House with the premiere of Michael Pelzel’s Last Call and was a guest again in the 2021/22 season. After the new production of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha, staged by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, at the Komische Oper Berlin and the Theater Basel, he opened the Basel season 2019/2020 with Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore. In the 2022/23 season he will make his debuts at the Opera Vlaanderen (Satyagraha), the Oper Frankfurt (The Cunning Little Vixen) and the Staatsballett Berlin (Onegin).
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In the symphonic field, Jonathan Stockhammer has conducted numerous renowned orchestras, including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. He has been a guest at festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Donaueschinger Musiktage, the Venice Biennale, the Wiener Festwochen and Wien Modern.
He has a special fondness for productions that elude the usual categorizations. These include Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions, an ECHO Klassik-winning CD of works by Frank Zappa with Ensemble Modern (RCA, 2003), as well as concerts and a recording of the new soundtrack to Sergei Eisenstein’s film Battleship Potemkin by and with the Pet Shop Boys. The live recording he conducted The New Crystal Silence with Chick Corea, Gary Burton and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra received a Grammy in 2009. His collaboration with the rapper Saul Williams for Said the Shotgun to the Head, a composition by Thomas Kessler, which Jonathan Stockhammer performed with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, the RSO Stuttgart and the Oslo Philharmonic, was also very successful. In the 2020/2021 season he premiered a new oratorio by Thomas Kessler and performed it at Musikfest Bern, ZeitRäume Basel and Wien Modern. As part of “CONNECT – The Audience as artist” he conducts Night Shift by Cathy Milliken with Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Asko/Schönberg and the Remix Ensemble Casa da Música. Jonathan Stockhammer first studied Chinese and political science, later composition and conducting in his hometown of Los Angeles. While still a student he filled in for several concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and subsequently assisted the chief conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. After completing his studies, he moved to Germany and developed close artistic relationships with well-known European ensembles such as Ensemble Modern, Collegium Novum Zürich and Ensemble Resonanz.

Jocelyn B. Smith (*New York, 1960), has lived in Germany for the past 30 years. She has held more than 3.000 live concerts and has worked with very different artists such as Lenny White,Till Brönner, Falco, Alphaville, or composers such as Mikis Theodorakis, Heiner Goebbels and Zülfu Livanelli.

In 1995, she received the Golden Record Award for the title song of the Disney movie „The Lion King“. In 1998, she received the Jazz Award from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for her CD „Blue Lights and Nylons“ (her label Blondell Productions produced over 10.000 copies of the CD).

In 2006, Jocelyn started her philanthropic project and has founded the choir „Different Voices of Berlin“ in a community and neighborhood center against poverty and social exclusion in Berlin Kreuzberg, at „Gitschiner 15“. She is also the founder of the charitable „Yes We Can e.V.“ (2008), which campaigns for the sustainable protection and assistance for children as well as the humanitarian project „Shine A Light“.

In 2011, Jocelyn was asked to sing „Amazing Grace“ at the Berlin commemoration of September 11 at the Brandenburger Tor, which was broadcasted worldwide by CNN. She participated in the last concert held prior to closing the „Tränen Palast“ at the former German Border in front of special guests that included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Angela Merkel, US-Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, German Bishop Wolfgang Huber, members of the German House of Parliament, Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany, Roman Herzog and Horst Köhler.

In 2015, Jocelyn released her 30-year anniversary album „My Way“ with a concert at the Berlin Cathedral „The DOM“. She is the ambassador of the „Help 4 People e.V.“ (Refugee-Aid Foundation) together with Björn Schulz Stiftung (Sonnenhof Kinder Hospiz). Her initiative „Shine A Light“ promotes humanity and more tolerance. In 2016, Jocelyn performed with the internationally renowned classical baritone Thomas Quasthoffin Vienna as part of the Shine a Light Ambassadorship Honoring Tour – Shine A Light Ambassadors.

In 2018, Jocelyn was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by the German president Frank Walter Steinmeier for her social engagement.

2019 – She recieved the Cross of Merit from the governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller.

2020 – She recieved the Beethoven award for her social engagement and activism.

Since 2007, tauchgold (Heike Tauch and Florian Goldberg) have been realising pieces at the interface between radio and stage. Their work includes social satires, historical dramas and philosophical themes. However, specially composed music always plays a central role. In 2019, their stage work “The Glassing Sea. A Narratorio for Strings and Voices”, which was created with a composition by Cathy Milliken based on the radio piece “Metamorphosen”, premiered in Munich in 2019. For “Geborgte Landschaft. A Narratorio for Piano Trio and Voices”, the composer Dai Fujikura wrote the music (2022). The English stage version “BORROWED LANDSCAPE” premiered in New York in 2023 and will tour the US from 2024. Since 2022, tauchgold have been realising the RSB series “Mensch, Musik!” as an author-director team.

Tom Zips grew up in a prefabricated housing estate in Berlin-Marzahn.  He found his adopted home at the age of 18 in Brandenburg’s Brisetal near Bergfelde. There he began to pursue his musical passion and initially wrote his first songs on his own in the field of rock music. He later took guitar and singing lessons, which also made his songwriting more pop music orientated.

During this time, Tom Zips was a full-time industrial clerk and worked very successfully in marketing in the Berlin advertising industry for over 10 years. In 2020, he turned his passion into a profession and founded the charity songwriting project ‘Hr. Bluse & Die Muse’, in which he dedicates songs to people in need.

Tom Zips released his first debut single ‘Menschenkind’ under his own name in April 2024, which thematically stands for more peaceful solutions in human diversity.

Emme Moises is an electronic musician, producer and live performer from Argentina, based in Berlin. Creating and performing across different live both visual and audio performances in Europe and South America since 2016.

Her music absorbs the audience and invites them on an inward journey where reality is perceived and transformed through sound. Beside her engagements as a composer, her work span over events like showcases for Moog, workshop and live set for art collectives and a/v performance with dance and reactive visuals at festivals.

Emme also works as head of sound in a Berlin club, technician for events and festivals, as mastering engineer for ambient/experimental music and curator/producer of cultural events.

Samaquias Lorta is an interdisciplinary artist working on mental health and ecological thinking. In his work, he often draws on how the use of technology and DIY performance techniques can provide insightful insights or solutions. Although he often devises visual components, the central aspect of his practice is sound performance and design. He uses sound to explore both fine details and larger contexts, seamlessly telling stories through audio.
Samaquias Lorta uses various immersive technologies to create interactive live performances. He uses motion detection tools to create audio assets through the movement of performers. His binaural work for the Soundwalk at Berlin’s Herzberg Museum takes the audience through the history and narratives of a historic hospital.
For Lorta, “immersive” is synonymous with “contemporary”. By using modern tools, he aims to demystify accessible technologies while challenging our understanding of tradition. His practice produces audio assets, sonic branding and interactive compositions for various creative productions including animation, NFT collections, spoken word, theatre/dance, soundwalks and film.
Samaquias Lorta never misses an opportunity to network creatively. This has resulted in numerous co-productions with support from Amplify Berlin, Eufonia Festival, Catalyst Institute, HZT Berlin and others.
His educational background includes cello performance and music composition at Boise State University. In 2020, he completed his Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Music Production and Performance at Catalyst Institute. His education has strengthened the ideas of storytelling and creative design that inform his current explorations.

Veronika Bachfischer is an actress and speaker. Born in Augsburg, she studied philosophy in Vienna and acting at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. She has been a member of the ensemble at the Schaubühne Berlin since 2016. In the same year, she was awarded the Golden Fan and received an invitation to the Theatertreffen Berlin with “Stolpersteine Staatstheater” (director: Hans-Werner Kroesinger). Her monologue version of “Erinnerung eines Mädchens” by Annie Ernaux (director: Sarah Kohm), for which she appeared as co-author, has been running with great success at the Schaubühne Berlin since its premiere in 2022. In addition to her work in the theatre, she regularly works as a speaker for radio and readings and can be seen in film and television.

Ossagrosse (b.1995) is an Italian artist who navigates the world of art with a distinctive perspective—they ‘fish’ for ideas in what they fondly refer to as ‘the new collective consciousness pool’. Their work spans across still images and videos made in collaboration with AI. Ossagrosse uses recurring visual elements to create a body of work in which every piece is part of an overarching narrative. With to a background in visuals and sound given by the MSVM course at Catalyst Berlin, the video works show a combination of AI and traditional techniques, pushing the boundaries of the practice. Their work has appeared on Red Eye, Fisheye, Artribune, Les Inrockuptibles and in the book Spells:Pioneers by Max Kuwertz. Ossagrosse is currently part of Fellowship.xyz, a roster of artists coordinated by Alejandro Cartagena who curated, alongside the artist Niceaunties, Ossagrosse’s collection called “Downscale”, as part of the group exhibition Post Photographic Perspectives III. “Ossa” is currently living in Berlin.