Vierhalbiert is an unusual experiment in which four musicians probe the extremes of sound, culture, and chronology. In their programmes, Early Music meets Contemporary Music: historical and modern instruments are mixed and two sound worlds interact and confront each other. Sometimes they blend; other times, their differences are highlighted. A modern style of basso continuo accompanies baroque music by Biber and juxtaposing Xenakis and Dall’ Abacco allows to jump back and forth over a gap of 300 years.
The duos perform not only on instruments of different eras, but at two different pitches simultaneously! Boundaries between different styles and aesthetics are eviscerated. The audience is invited to celebrate with the musicians the inherent timelessness of music.

​

Vierhalbiert was chosen to be part of the The New Austrian Sound of Music programme 2018/19. An initiative from the Foreign Ministry of Austria to support and encourage musicians and groups to perform abroad. Future projects include world premiers of two fantastic young Austrian based composers Matthias Kranebitter and Lorenzo Troiani written specifically for the two Duos. Both pieces were premiered in Innsbruck in 2018.

 

The piece "Diachronic Sound Sculptures" by the Austrian composer Hannes Dufek had a world premiere at the Osterfestival Tirol in the fantastic venue Salzlager Hall in 2021.

​

Another project: HYPERMYSTICISM&AUDIOMATTER combining pieces a selection of HIF Biber's Rosary Sonatas and a new work written for Vierhalbiert by the Danish composer Sophie Meyer will have it's world premiere in March 2024 in Denmark. 

The Biber sonatas, which are heavily charged with a remote mysticism, and Meyer's evocative music are contrasted with performative collages of absurd poetry and contemporary texts on object theories. In such a way, musical and verbal texts condense in order to encounter us as audio objects and become affective – and somehow mystical – matter. The project was developed in close collaboration with Renate Plieseis.