United Women's Orchestra

United Women's Orchestra
General information
Genre (s)	jazz
founding	1992
resolution	2009
Last occupation
Alto saxophone , flute	Corinna Danzer
Clarinet , bass clarinet	Silke Eberhard
Tenor saxophone , bass clarinet	Christina Fuchs
Soprano & Alto Saxophone, Clarinet	Meike Goosmann
Baritone saxophone , flute	Christine Hörmann
flute	Hazel Leach
Tenor saxophone , clarinet	Marie-Christine Schröck
Trumpet	Steffi Deckers
Trumpet	Hermione Schneider
Trumpet	Sabine Ercklentz
Trumpet	Gisela Messollen
trombone	Petra Krumphuber
trombone	Anke Lucks
trombone	Teddy Steen
Trombone, tuba	Janni Struzyk
Singing , live electronics	Inneke van Doorn
piano	Laia Genc
double bass	Ulla Oster
Drums	Nils Tegen
former members
Clarinet, bass clarinet	Regina Pastuszyk
Alto saxophone	Ilona Haberkamp
Tenor saxophone	Esther-Maria Stumm
Trumpet	Helen Barsby
Trumpet	Nancy Gildner
Trumpet	Sandra Horn
Trumpet	Susanne Riemer
trombone	Viola Engelbrecht
piano	Julia Hülsmann
singing	Celine Rudolph
Drums	Carolina Bigge
Drums	Aimée Povel
Guests
Trumpet, flugelhorn	Ingrid Jensen
Clarinet, bass clarinet	Annette Maye
Alto saxophone	Angelika Niescier
trombone	Annemarie Roelofs
double bass	Eva Kruse

The United Women's Orchestra was a big band of professional musicians from Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain committed to modern and creative jazz .

The ensemble was formed on the occasion of a jazz workshop for women in 1992. The founding members included Christina Fuchs , Meike Goosmann and Hazel Leach , as well as other professional and initially some amateur musicians. The orchestra project was able to develop into one of the few large European formations that consistently pursued the way of performing contemporary jazz compositions for a big band while maintaining a repertoire of original music: only original compositions by the two directors Christina Fuchs and Hazel Leach were played. The motive of the directors and conductors for the project was to have a formation to perform their works: According to Franz Zipperer, “the unmistakable ensemble sound of the United Women's Orchestra ” is characterized by “an imaginative use of rhythms, gorgeous solo excursions and a very vital one , narrative expressiveness ”.

The orchestra premiered at the European Women in Music Congress in Remscheid in 1994 . The band played at renowned festivals such as the Leverkusener Jazztage , the Moers Festival or the “World Music Meeting” in Nijmegen and recorded a total of three albums. A farewell tour took place in January 2009; a last appearance followed in October 2009 at the celebration of the twentieth birthday of the women's department of the city of Frankfurt am Main.

Discography

• United Women's Orchestra (KlangRäume 1996)
• The Blue One ( JazzHausMusik 1999)
• Virgo Supercluster featuring Ingrid Jensen (JazzHausMusik 2002)

Web links

• Press reactions (PDF file; 495 kB)

Remarks

1. ↑ “Hazel and I could probably have waited a long time until our compositions had been played. That was the main motivation. It has a long tradition that people who compose look for a forum. Preferably your own, because then you can be sure that it will go as you thought it would. ”Ch. Fuchs in an interview with Felix Klopotek Stadtrevue 6/1999 (Cologne) ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2008 in Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Franz XA Zipperer Clarino Print 6/2007 ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.