Roland batik

Roland Batik (born August 19, 1951 in Vienna ) is an Austrian pianist and composer who, as a wanderer between the musical worlds, combines tradition and modernity or classical and jazz. Roland Batik is one of the most diverse musicians in Austria. The musical language of the pianist and composer transcends traditional boundaries. Roland Batik sees himself as a pianist who also composes. The way to his compositions is always through the piano, improvisation.

biography

Friedrich Gulda as a jumping spark

As a teenager, Roland Batik actually wanted to be the keyboardist of a major rock or pop band. "The Who" and "Queen", Keith Emerson and others. a. were his role models. The decisive impulse for his musical development was a concert visit in 1971 when Friedrich Gulda's “Concertino for Players and Singers” was performed. Roland Batik became a student of Walter Fleischmann at the Musikhochschule in Vienna (today's University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna). A little later he enrolled at the Jazz Institute of the Vienna Conservatory, which Erich Kleinschuster founded in 1969 (today: Music and Art Private University of the City of Vienna). There he studied jazz piano with Fritz Pauer and took lessons with Friedrich Gulda . During his student days, Batik was a successful composer of several stage music for the Burgtheater Vienna.

Roland Batik made his breakthrough as a pianist as a soloist in Friedrich Gulda's “Concertino for Players and Singers” under the direction of the composer. From Gulda, Batik learned not only the interpretation of Bach and Beethoven, but also discipline, probably one of the essential prerequisites for a career as a musician. Roland Batik not only perfected his playing, he was also confirmed in his simultaneous love for classical music and jazz: “Really great, style-forming musicians had that: the perfect timing. A natural feeling, a completely natural relationship to the rhythm. From this ideal timing, the right type of game comes out immediately. "

International breakthrough - solo, duo, trio

During the lessons with Friedrich Gulda, Roland Batik founded the Roland Batik Trio - a jazz formation that continues to perform to this day. Between 1982 and 1988 Roland Batik formed an internationally very successful classical piano duo with Paul Gulda . As a member of the Vienna Instrumental Soloists, he composed numerous works between 1987 and 1991. After the separation of the Batik-Gulda duo, Roland Batik turned back to his solo career - often in connection with classical repertoire and his own cross-border compositions. Concert tours have taken the artist through Europe, the USA, Japan and Korea - but also to the local stages of the Bregenz Festival, the Carinthian Summer and others. a.

In 1991 he was awarded the “ Wiener Flötenuhr ” record prize for the complete recording of Mozart's piano sonatas. In 1999 he received euphoric reactions in the press and radio with the complete recording of Joseph Haydn's piano sonatas.

Bridge builder as a classical pianist, jazz musician and composer

Batik made a name for himself more and more not only as a pianist, but also became a sought-after composer of piano and chamber music. But Batik does not shy away from large ensembles either: in 1993 he premiered his "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No.1 - Meditation upon Peace" as a commissioned work by "Jeunesses Musicales" with resounding success. With the marimba and vibraphone virtuoso Woody Schabata , he and Heinrich Werkl (double bass) founded the "Bridges" project in 1995, with which he treads new chamber music paths. What is unusual about this formation is that the drums have been replaced by mallet instruments, which can be used both percussive and as "second melody instruments".

Roland Batik composed four “Intermezzi” for the Altenberg Trio (world première Brahmssaal Vienna 2001). In 2004, the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 followed, which Roland Batik performed for the first time together with the Bruckner Orchestra in Linz. In 2008 his Concerto for Piano, Percussion and Orchestra (Concerto No. 3) was written. “On the Move” for string orchestra and jazz trio (2008, world premiere as part of the “ Allegro Vivo ” festival in Altenburg Abbey) and “On the Move Part 2” (2015, world premiere as part of the “Piano and More” concert series in the Stadttheater Wiener Neustadt) are further examples of the symphonic works of Roland Batik. In 2011 the world premiere of the “4 Bagatelles for String Quartet and Piano” took place as part of the Carinthian Summer.

Room for improvisation

Batik himself says of his style: “I still have the courage to stick to the tonal range; the innovative spirit of the times does not pass me by, but there are so many who are working in this direction. So it might not be entirely wrong to do something different. Besides, I just can't help it! [...] In my compositions I strive for a fusion of classical-traditional formal elements with sound ideas influenced by jazz and ethno. [...] In my piano compositions you can find lyrical-cantable elements up to influences from folklore, popular music and avant-garde soundscapes. ”With the exception of his large-scale compositions, the jazz batik tries again and again to give the interpreter space for improvisation, without doing the formal To throw the scaffolding off balance. "But stylistically, my ideas are already romantic-impressionistic - with a helping of jazz."

Role model and companion for "cross-border commuters"

In addition, the multi-award-winning artist - among other things, he was awarded the title of Professor in 2003 - manages as the organizer and artistic director of the Seibersdorf Castle Concerts, which he founded in 1998, to bring together outstanding local musicians every year at the end of May and to give high-quality concerts in a stylish setting. In 2001 he received the Lower Austrian Culture Prize. Since 2014 he has been the musical mastermind of the “Piano and More” concert series.

Roland Batik has been teaching at the Vienna Conservatory since 1977, where he taught jazz and piano in parallel until 1994 and now focuses only on classical music. He is also a regular lecturer at the Vienna Master Classes, the International Summer Academy Mozarteum Salzburg and the international chamber music festival " Allegro Vivo ". In the last few years the versatile artist has intensified his concert activities in solo, in a duo with Yuko Batik and the Roland Batik Trio with Heinrich Werkl (double bass) and Walter Grassmann (drums). A new project has recently been launched, in the tradition of "Bridges" but also stylistically beyond: "The New Quartett" with the three shooting stars, Florian Eggner (violoncello), Tobias Meissl (vibraphone) and Martin Gasser (alto saxophone) .

Web links

• Media from and about Roland Batik in the catalog of the German National Library
• Homepage of Roland Batik
• Entry in the Music Information Center Austria