Alex Haas (Germany; Double-bass, composer)

Born in 1962, Alex Haas, is not only a virtuoso musician (there are not many other double bass players who can play Foggy Mountain Breakdown on their instrument) and an all-round string instrument lover; he also composes music for choirs, for the theatre, for his string quartette, for the soloists of the Bavarian Radio Symphonic Orchestra (Solisten der BR-Symphoniker) and for films.

After spending years in the musical entertainment sector, in 2007 he returned to his enormously broad musical base and works with many ensembles in the areas of chanson, world music, jazz and classical music.

He has twice been awarded the “AZ-Stern des Jahres” (Star of the Year) by the Bavarian Newspaper Abendzeitung for outstanding cultural performance, as well as the TZ-Strauss des Jahres (Bouquet of the Year) by for I hired a contract killer and Susanne Brantl: Schöner Jammern at Metropoltheater München.

Already a brilliant accompanist and soloist, he continues to work on making his playing perfect. His musicianship is based on skill, technique, understanding of harmony, intuition, and speed of perception, and he has been described as a musician “…who plays in dimensions that have nothing in common with those of a normal double bass player.” (SZ München)

He plays and has played with and for: Unsere Lieblinge, Estampie, Alpen Klezmer, Susanne Brantl, Traubli Weiss, Zupfgeigenhansel, Rhani Krija, Mohammed Reza Mortazawi, Ulrich Roski, Klaus-Peter Schreiner, Ralph Towner, Acapickels, Njami Sitson, Christian Willisohn...

His compositions insluce
Theater: I hired a contract killer, Broadway Danny Rose, Der Golem (all at the Metropoltheater München), Of Mice and Men  (Touring company with Hannes Jänicke)
Film: Aus der Tiefe des Raumes (Nominated for the German Film Prize), Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot, Friedliche Zeiten

Orchestras: Die Solisten des Symphonieorchesters des Bayrischen Rundfunks (Soloists of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra)

Choirs: Do Ge Da Ja, Obi is hoad, Hoit Du Dei Mei (African-Bavarian choral compositions for Voices in Time, winner of the German Choir Competition and Ward-Swingle-Award Prizewinner) – Under the “100 Best” of Bosse-Verlag Music Publishers

www.alex-haas.de

Photo: Ralf Dombrowski