ACMP member flutist Michael Knoch created and manages the Berliner Kammermusikliste and is one of ACMP’s most prolific Play-In organizers in Europe. Get to know Michael through this online interview with ACMP staff. And if you live in or near Berlin, come hear Michael play at his “hausmusik” concert on Sunday, November 27, 2022 at 4pm, sponsored in part through a Just Play grant from ACMP!

The questions are from ACMP’s new Featured Member Questionnaire. And Michael’s answers are first in German, and then in English, below each German answer.

ACMP: How did you get involved in chamber music and why did you become an ACMP member? Which benefits of being a member have you enjoyed since?

Michael Knoch:

Deutsch: Eine Erfahrung (English version below), die ich zu Anfang meiner (Hobby-)Flötisten-Laufbahn machen durfte / musste, war in gewisser Weise prägend und nicht ganz unmaßgeblich, dass ich mich der Kammermusik zuwandte: Beim ersten Treffen eines neu zu gründenden Hochschulorchesters wurde ich von den bereits anwesenden Musizierwilligen mit dem ermunternden Satz begrüßt: »Na, was spielst du denn – etwa auch Flöte?« Es stellte sich heraus: Vor mir hatten sich bereits acht andere Flötenspieler*innen eingefunden, die natürlich alle gern mitmachen wollten. So wurde mir schlagartig klar: Die Chance, in ein bestehendes Orchester aufgenommen zu werden, kannst du – als Flötist – vergessen. Also fing ich an, musikalische Zusammenkünfte selbst zu organisieren, zunächst Kammermusik (siehe unser ►Klaviertrio mit Flöte »terzando«, unsere jährliche ►»hausmusik«, häusliche Adventsmusiken, die ►Kammermusik im Waldschlösschen) – sowie seit 2000 dann schließlich doch auch ein Orchester, nämlich ►concentus alius – homophilharmonisches Orchester Berlin. Und im Rahmen des ACMP bzw. der “Berliner Kammermusikliste” habe ich nun wiederholt sog. Play-Ins organisiert, die jeweils großen Zuspruch fanden. //

English Translation:

An experience I had to make at the beginning of my (hobby) flutist career was in a certain way formative and not entirely without significance that I turned to chamber music: At the first meeting of a new university orchestra to be founded, I was greeted by the already present musicians with the encouraging sentence: “Well, what do you play – flute, too?” It turned out that before me, eight other flute players had already arrived, all of whom naturally wanted to join in. So it suddenly became clear to me: As a flute player, you have no chance of being accepted to join an existing orchestra. So I started to organize musical gatherings myself, first chamber music (see our ►Piano trio with flute “terzando”, our annual ►”hausmusik”, domestic Advent music, the ►Chamber music in the Waldschlösschen) – and since 2000 finally also an orchestra, namely ►concentus alius – homophilharmonic orchestra Berlin. And within the framework of the ACMP or the “Berlin Chamber Music List” I have now repeatedly organized so-called play-ins, each of which was very well appreciated.

ACMP: What kinds of chamber music experiences and relationships are you seeking? 

MK: Am spannendsten finde ich größere gemischte Ensembles, gemischt aus Bläsern, Streichern und Klavier… //

What I find most exciting are larger mixed ensembles, mixed winds, strings and piano….

ACMP: What are your favorite pieces of chamber music to play?

MK: Bach, Kunst der Fuge, Triosonate aus dem Musikalischen Opfer; Haydn, Klaviertrios; Mozart, Flötenquartette; Beethoven, op. 1 //

Bach, Art of Fugue, Trio Sonata from Musical Offering; Haydn, Piano Trios; Mozart, Flute Quartets; Beethoven, Op. 1

ACMP: Please describe a particularly memorable experience you had playing chamber music.

MK: Eine sich regelmäßig wiederholende Erfahrung veranlasst mich, wenn ich dran denke, vorm Losspielen folgendes anzusagen: “Ein Wiederholungszeichen bedeutet weder, dass man anhält und fragt “Sollen wir wiederholen?” noch, dass ein erlahmendes ritardando allen Musizierschwung ausbremst, sondern: dass wiederholt wird!” //

A regularly recurring experience prompts me, when I think of it, to announce the following before starting to play: “A repeat sign means neither that you stop and ask “Shall we repeat?” nor that a paralyzing ritardando slows down all musical drive – but: that we repeat!”

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Now, I will repeat what I wrote above –

Everyone in or near Berlin, please check out Michael’s concert hausmusik in ölberg 2022 on November 27, 2022 at 4pm, made possible in part through an ACMP Just Play grant.

Join ACMP or log into this website to check out Michael’s profile in the ACMP Directory of Chamber Musicians.

Interested in applying for a Just Play grant for your own informal concert? More information

And…

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