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The German prccionist and marimba player, Babette Haag, daughter of a flautist and a harpist, began to play the piano at six. At 17, she heard a concerto for marimba and orchestra, and was so enthusiastic that she decided to study percussion instruments rather than making a career as a pianist. From 1988 to 1994 she studied classic percussion and timpani at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg/Breisgau. In 1991, she took part in the competition of the "Deutscher Musikrat" and was awarded a scholarship for the 36th National Selection "Concerts of young people" in 1992-1993.
In the 1992-1993 season, Babette Haag began her solo career with more than 40 solo appearances throughout Germany. She also belonged as solo timpanist to the Jungen Deutschen Philharmonie and the Philharmonie des Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. With this orchestra , which in 1995 was renamed the Philharmonie der Nationen, she appeared for 7 years (1990-1996) under the direction of Justus Frantz as solo percussions and organizer of the percussion department at numerous concert tours at home and abroad, in CD productions as well as in the TV show Achtung! Klassik.
You can Babette Haag experience in various formations in which she repeatedly tris to explore the versatility of percussion instruments: in solo percussion recitals, concertos for marimba / percussion and orchestra, with the Percussion-Ensemble Babette Haag (from duo to quintet) or as a chamber music partner (including a duo and trio Arparimba TriColore , with the Piano Duo Paratore, with the pianists Alexei Lubimov & Alexandre Rabinovich, with Klaus Maria Brandauer or Bobby McFerrin). Her performances - defined by a high musicality and an admirable sense of rhythm - have taken her to many countries in Europe and in the Baltic States, the USA, South America (Brazil, Nicaragua) Australia, Asia (China, Saudi Arabia) and Africa (Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire), or with the luxury cruise ship MS Europa around the UK. In North and South America she made her debut as a soloist in 2004 with recitals and concerts with orchestra, crowned by TV and radio recordings of her acclaimed performances as in the Sala São Paulo, the most prestigious concert series in Brazil. She is called "Wizard of the music world" and the newspapers (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung) certify her an electrifying enthusiasm combined with brilliant virtuosity.
Babette Haag is a welcome guest at major international music festivals and invited by numerous symphony orchestras (Rheingau Musikfestival, Ludwigsburger Schloßfestspiele, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Berliner Festwochen, Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphonieorchester, Frankfurter Museumsorchester, Staatstheater Oldenburg, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Musikcollegium Schaffhausen, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonie Thüringen, Dresdner Kapellsolisten or Sinfonieorchester Plauen/Zwickau).
Babette Haag shares her experience at home and abroad in master-classes, seminars and workshops such as at the University of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the College of Music and Drama in Khartoum, the Braunschweig Classix-Festival or the Musikhochschule Dresden.
Babette Haag has release 5 CD’s so far: "Magic Drums " - Works for Marimba, Drums, Percussion (1998); "Impressions for Harp and Marimba " - with the duo Arparimba (1999); "Magic Marimba " - solo works for marimba (2002); "Melodies for Percussion" - concertos for marimba, vibraphone, timpani or multi-percussion and orchestra - with the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn under Ruben Gazarian (2005); and "Pas de Deux" - music for harp and marimba (2006). |
