usu Sauer|Schwarz|Schiffelholz

The trio USU Sauer|Schwarz|Schiffelholz performs improvised music. Silvia Sauer (voice), Ulrike Schwarz (alto saxophone, flute), and Uli Schiffelholz (drums) develop their pieces collaboratively and without prior agreement. At times, they draw the audience into quiet, contemplative spheres; at other times, they surprise with unfamiliar sounds, intensify their musical interaction, and drive the energy to its peak. Loopers and sound effects are used to expand their sonic language.

From the very beginning, the specific location of each performance has played a crucial role in USU’s improvisations. The trio deliberately seeks out diverse spatial settings. As part of a festival, for example, they performed in a park by a small stream, actively incorporating the space and its sounds into the music.

During the first year of the COVID pandemic, USU initially experimented with contact-free forms of improvisation during lockdown, working with exchanged and collaged audio fragments. Later, with the support of a grant from the Hessian Cultural Foundation, the trio collaborated with producer Pietro Fiore to record a 360° video in an industrial hall in Offenbach. https://youtu.be/R-TH0FnEGi0

The virtual placement of the YouTube 360° video audience at the center of the action inspired the ensemble to pursue further explorations. In early 2022, with funding from Musikfonds e.V., the trio worked on translating this new concept of audience and stage back into a live performance setting.
At six different locations, the musicians experimented with performing in an outer ring surrounding the audience. In doing so, they made increased use of loopers and sound movement across multiple speakers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MllZ7-R9gnk

In this setting, the audience takes on an unconventional role: listeners sit in the center of the space on loosely arranged stools and are invited to change their orientation and position throughout the performance. There are always more seats than people in the room, allowing for movement at any time. By choosing whether or not to change places, audience members individually contribute to the overall event—since movement within the audience simultaneously becomes an impulse for the freely improvised music.