Ania Losinger and Mats Eser live and work in an atelier/home situated on the southern slopes of the Jura mountains in the canton of Berne, Switzerland. They begin their intensive collaboration in the year 2005 and develop their own artistic ideas and concepts which are translated into concert performances, compositions or music-theater pieces which are performed on an international stage. They compose their first collaborative work “The Five Elements”. Central to this five-part concert performance are Ania Losinger’s Xala II and Mats Eser’s five-octave marimba. With this debut, they are immediately able to create an unmistakable universe of sound that instantly enthralls the public both at home and abroad (Festivals and Concerts in Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Finland, Holland, Poland, Italy and Belgium). The Five Elements was released on CD in 2009 (Tonus-Music-Records).
The intense collaboration between the two musicians induces them to go through a phase of music-theater performances. They create and play several music-theater pieces intended both for a young audience and for adults, performing in theaters in all of Europe (e.g. Farbige Zeiten at the Philharmonie Luxembourg). At the same time they compose music for films and end up starring in the successful 2010 Swiss film Bödälä – Dance the Rhythm” that is shown in cinemas throughout Switzerland, Germany and Austria.
Further development of the Xala becomes once more a priority when the organizers of the Spanish Pavilion in the World Exhibition in Shanghai decide to invite the artists to perform a Xala production there. Ania Losinger, Mats Eser and Hamper von Niederhäusern plan and develop a third Xala. The duo Losinger-Eser plays their new program, FÚ – Danced Sounsculptures in Shanghai for a month using the Xala III and a minimal percussion set.
KuL: “…With calligraphic precision and undivided attention they connect dance, sound and rhythm in a suite made of finest miniatures, secretive, fascinating and poetic. Each Soundsculpture stands alone and yet one vibrates to the sound of the other and stays connected – visible as though seen through opaque and shimmering rice paper…”
The impressions the duo gather during their time in this metropolis are further processed and give life to their next production: “Shanghai Patterns”. Original Chinese percussion instruments weave their way through the piece, blending with the highly modern soundscape created by the Xala III and the marimba. The piece premieres at the BeJazz Winterfestival in Bern in 2011.
BZ: “…Complete perfection. A woman, a man and their artistic creation. Astonishment is part of the experience when one sees Ania Losinger dancing on the sounding stage that she herself invented, surrounded by cascades of sound produced by Mats Eser’s marimba which flow like mountain streams or the roar of traffic in the megalopolis …”
During their research on sound and rhythm, Ania Losinger and Mats Eser discover the wonderful combination of Xala III and Fender Rhodes. From this springs their program “Scope” which premiers in 2012 in the Franz Gertsch Museum in Burgdorf.
In 2014 a comprehensive CD-Trilogy is released which includes the music of FÚ, SHANGHAI PATTERNS and SCOPE. CD release tours throughout Europe follow hard on the heels of the CD publication.
BZ: “…SCOPE by the sound dancer, Ania Losinger and multi-instrumentalist Mats Eser, is an ever-changing acoustic experience… the two musicians were never as perfectly amalgamated as now. Only out of such unity can diversity be possible, a game of styles, harmonies and metrics that lead to reverberant compositions…”
Commissioned compositions develop into collaboration with orchestras (Tonus-Music for Xala, Marimba and Orchestra) and strings (FÚ&Strings).
In 2015 Ania Losinger and Mats Eser found their first instrumental band: NEN – (e)merging structures and hypnotic soundscapes. Xala III and Fender Rhodes blend with base and drums in a congenial and virtuoso interaction. A completely new cosmos of sound which doesn’t belong to any stylistic niche opens up. It will be exciting to watch where this 3-musician and one dancing-musician band will go in the future.
A new horizon in artistic development has opened up thanks to the co-productions involving dance companies for which Losinger and Eser compose and perform, acting as a live orchestra for the modern dancers. The melding of music and dance that Ania has been able to achieve thanks to her Xala, is palpapble and expands energetically within the space thanks to her connection with the dancers.
Music for an Open Space is the most recent production of the Duo Losinger-Eser. With this work they once again dedicate themselves exclusively to the acoustic intruments Xala II and marimba/percussion. The focus is on large echoing spaces which is woven into the composition as though it were a third musician.
The move towards acoustic and spatial sounds, brings with it the encounter with the steel cello player and overtone singer Jan Heinke. With him they produce the LP/CD “The Lugano Session” (co-produced with RSI Lugano) and found the trio AËR.
Schweizer Radiomagazin: “… Layers of sound and rhythm form layered compositions in the tradition of Minimal Music, but magically renewed and without any mechanical aspects. Ania Losinger dances on her floor xylophone Xala, eliciting warm tones that vibrate to the sounds of steel cello (Jan Heinke) and marimba (Mats Eser). The Bernese artist, a pure physical presence on stage, becomes part of an invisibly floating sound mobile in this CD production…”
The duo Losinger-Eser composes the music for the Christmas fairy tale MOMO at the Stadttheater Bern. They are involved in the production as musicians, embodying time with their sound and playing live. Those who know Momo will know that time is omnipresent. Here’s the MOMO-soundtrack as CD.
To mark the twentieth anniversary of Xala, the Orbital Garden Bern is hosting a series of concerts with numerous world premieres. The Xala-Matrix.
Ania Losinger and Mats Eser are launching the RUMI CONCERTS series at Atelierhaus Rumisberg. With RUMI INSIGHTS, they are opening up the space for interested parties to gain an insight into their work in small groups. In addition to trying out Xalas and other exclusive percussion instruments, this also includes (re)discovering their own rhythmic structures in terms of sound or dance, developing ideas for live performances together – and much more…
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