Stefan Schönegg

I’m honoured to be part of this years selection of artists for the NICA artist development program by European Centre for Jazz and Contemporary Music at Stadtgarten, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Looking forward to dive deeper in some beloved projects of mine. Stay tuned for the new ENSO album coming out in December with my wonderful colleagues Marlies Debacker on piano (also NICA artist 2023) and Etienne Nillesen.

I’m happy to announce this new release on Tangible Music by Janning Trumann and some dear colleagues: Fundaments We Share. It’s a great collection of compositions and sketches by Janning for octet including church organ. Featuring Janning Trumann (trb, comp), Heidi Bayer (trp, flugel), Theresia Philipp, Charlotte Greve (asax, fl), Uli Kempendorff (tsax, clar), Fabian Willmann, Tini Thomsen (barisax, bcl), Dierk Peters (vib), Stefan Schönegg (b) and Sebastian Scobel (org). You can check it out here!

New ENSO music coming up with the amazing Marlies Debacker (piano) and Etienne Nillesen (extended snare drum). Brandnew band! We have been working a lot and it was a great journey culminating in recording at the amazingly beautiful sounding concert hall at Deutschlandfunk in Cologne!

Thanks to Thomas Loewer, the wonderful sound engineer Stephan Schmidt, also Hendrik Manook and Jens Müller from DLF. Special thanks also to Odilo Clausnitzer for making it happen. Really looking forward to the finished album!

Very happy to announce this new album from this long-time working trio Huhn / Schönegg / Mahnig (formerly: Die Fichten), which is finally released on impakt Records! Available as download and digifile CD via bandcamp.

Here is a review by Martin Hufner in Neue Musikzeitung
https://hoerbar.nmz.de/2022/12/enso-strings-percussion/

Here Ken Waxman writes on jazzword.com about Enso and Metaculture
https://www.jazzword.com/reviews/stefan-schonegg/

The focus of Stefan Schönegg’s formation Enso is sound. And there is nothing to shake about that. Already the four previous releases of the quartet – which optionally even grows to an octet – testify to the tireless, as it were precise urge to get on the track of the sound and its production. […] Enso’s music is and has always been there. […] On the foil of suspended time, the ear loses itself in an infinite landscape. Rarely has resolution been more beautiful.
Gerardo Scheige, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik

Strings & Percussion is the latest project of Cologne bassist, composer and label producer Stefan Schönegg in his Enso series, with which, album after album, he plays himself free of jazz and improvisation clichés, but also refrains from any ingratiation with new music standards. An exercise in autonomy. If you ask around in the local jazz scene about originality, independence and persistence, you will always hear Schönegg’s name.
Strings & Percussion is exactly that: three string players, two percussionists, who, without any vanity, circle themes and ideas collectively and to the point of sonic indistinguishability, perhaps formulating an idea or not, letting the sounds swell but never overflow.
Felix Klopotek, Stadtrevue

I am incredibly happy to announce the new Enso-Album called Strings & Percussion! Available as download or vinyl via bandcamp.

Thanks to everybody involved, especially the wonderful Kari Rønnekleiv, Judith Hamann, Toma Gouband and Etienne Nillesen. Also recording engineer Patrick Leuchter, mastering engineer Alex Kloss and video artist Leonhard Huhn.

Enjoy!

Funded by the Cultural Office City of Cologne and Musikfonds e.V. by means of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM), as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR recovery programme.

Very happy to announce this new release by my friend Leif Berger: Hinweis auf die Sonne.

It is a beautiful self-release on vinyl with the wonderful Rebekka Ziegler on vocals, Yannis Anft on synthesizer, Leif Berger on drums and myself on electric bass.