TonTanz Ensemble
TonTanz ensemble puts fairy tales and classical stories in a new light and delivers them on stage by combining chamber music (clarinet, accordion, flute) and dance.
The first TonTanz production is based on the story of the romantic ballet Giselle, with music from Eric Satie, Camille Saint-Saëns and Friedgund Göttsche-Niessner. After a successful première at the Mystische Aarberger Nacht in November 2018, we travelled abroad to perform Giselle in the Netherlands early 2020 (see pictures)!
In the second production, The seven lives of Carmen, the famous opera character Carmen attempts to escape her faith to be trapped in the same story until eternity, and goes on an unexpected journey as she takes matters into her own hands. With music from Michael Webster’s Carmen Rhapsody, and works from Stravinsky and Vivaldi, Carmen's new story unfolds, and she discovers a fundamental truth about herself. The Seven Lives of Carmen was performed over three years in both Switzerland and the Netherlands.
For its third production, the TonTanz ensemble worked together with the well-known shadow puppeteer Hansueli Trüb from Aarau to stage Peter Pan in 2021 and 2022. This time dance, drama and music blend together with shadow play into a new work of art, freely based on the classic story of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Peter Pan is targeted to a young audience, but exciting for young and old! This production was among others performed at the international shadow festival in Schwäbisch Gmünd, and with this production, the TonTanz ensemble was selected as Pro Argovia Artist 2022.
The following year, 2023, TonTanz premiered Die Gedanken sind Frei, as part of the Migros Double mentoring program. In this production, TonTanz experiments with various forms of classical, ethnic and folk music as well as with voice, movement, objects and costumes. The three musicians and the dancer thus dare to break new ground under expert guidance and develop a format that they can use in future for street music, but also as an offer for festivals at home and abroad.
Currently, TonTanz is working on its fourth production Tulip fever. Stay tuned for more information, and visit the upcoming performances page and the gallery for an impression of our past and current work.
Rhea Paschen
"The Spring"
Rhea Paschen is "the spring" of the TonTanz Ensemble. Her ideas flow into the stories and enrich them. With her imagination and continuous flow of ideas, she creates and transforms stories.
Born in Hamburg, she has been an enthusiastic chamber musician since her youth and studied clarinet in Bern (HKB) and Zurich (ZHDK). She has won prizes in several competitions, including Jugend Musiziert, the MIKADO Classis Music Competition and the OSAKA International Music Competition.
Rhea Paschen performs as a chamber musician in renowned concert halls in Switzerland and abroad, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, with the Ensemble Koru 2023 and with Michiko Tsuda MTMT 2024 in the small Tonhallesaal Zurich. In addition to her concert activities, she teaches clarinet at the Prova music school in Winterthur and conducts the Musikverein Bonstetten.
If you want to learn more about Rhea, visit her website at rheapaschen.com.
Inga Piwowarska
"The Guardian"
Inga Piwowarska is a “guardian” of creativity and ideas. She appreciates new and unusual projects combining music and dance. She also “watches over” the good mood and cheerful atmosphere in the group.
The Polish accordionist came to Switzerland after completing a bachelor's degree in Poland at the Grazyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Lodz. In 2018, she began her studies at the Bern University of the Arts and has since completed a Master's degree in Performance with a minor in Contemporary Music and a Master's degree in Pedagogy completed with honors in the class of Teodoro Anzellotti.
Inga is a winner of many accordion competitions and she has performed on the stages of the Zurich Opera House, the Lucerne Theater, the Casino in Bern, the Grand Theater in Warsaw, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio in Katowice and the Witold Lutoslawski Polish Radio in Warsaw. Since 2021 she has also been working as a teacher and teaches at music schools in the cantons of Aargau and Lucerne.
Visit her website at:
ingapiwowarska.com
Anna-Barbara Rösch
"The Gifted One"
Anna-Barbara Rösch is the gifted observer of our actions. Nothing escapes her attention and with great love for detail, she drives the TonTanz Ensemble musically and organizationally.
Born and raised in Aarberg, her musical path led her via the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Bachelor) to the ZHdK (Master) in Zurich. After successfully completing her flute studies with an award for her project “Music, Movement, Space”, she broadened her horizons by studying elementary music education.
In addition to her teaching activities at the Dietikon Music School and the Zurich Conservatory Music School, she plays in various orchestras such as the Solothurn City Orchestra and the Sursee Operetta. The young flautist has repeatedly achieved success, winning a recognition prize in the solo category at the Interpretation of Contemporary Music competition at the Zurich University of the Arts and performing several times as a soloist with orchestras such as the Bern Youth Symphony Orchestra and the New Zurich Orchestra.
Visit her website at:
Gudrun Koch
"The Muse"
Gudrun Koch creatively combines sound art and dance with her art of movement. As a “muse”, her interpretations and improvisations inspire multi-faceted creations.
She explores dance, which shapes all facets of her life, artistically, performatively and somatically. Her choreographies play with space, body, time, mind, emotion and soul. Her performances touch with presence, depth, grace and liveliness.
After studying administration, working in management and as a lecturer, Gudrun Koch followed her vocation as a music teacher, recorder player and dancer. Her qualification through the university-recognized courses in recorder and elementary music pedagogy (graduating with top marks) and numerous further training courses at home and abroad were followed by certified training in contemporary dance, somatic performance and various bodywork methods, including Feldenkrais.
After working for many years at music schools as a teacher, on the management committee and artistically in germany, she has been teaching at the Musikschule Konservatorium Zürich since 2022. She works in an interdisciplinary way and combines visual arts, music and movement as a lecturer and in artistic work such as performances in Germany and Switzerland.
Sabine van Schie
"The Water Nymph"
Sabine van Schie, is the dancer amid the musicians.
She embraces the magical notes that are played, gracefully, powerful and expressive. Like a Nymph, she is initimately connected to the movement of her body of water, and her very existence seems to depend on it. In front of her eyes, the melodies enliven, inspire the dance and make the ensemble to what it is: a Ton Tanz