About
Zinc & Copper is an internationally recognised low brass ensemble founded in 2005 by Robin Hayward, working together with Elena Kakaliagou and Hilary Jeffery since 2014. Through an intensive exploration of microtonal and natural tunings, they have developed a unique ensemble sound characterized by the warmth of low brass instruments and a wide range of extended playing techniques.
Commissions for composers such as Ellen Arkbro, Hayden Chisholm, Amir ElSaffar, Hanna Hartman, Simon Martin, Duane Pitre, Eleni Poulou, Éliane Radigue, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Juan Felipe Waller and Christian Wolff have created a diverse repertoire on the frontier of contemporary music, seeking inspiration from experimental and non-European musical forms as well as collaborations with other art forms.
In the time of Giovanni Gabrieli, long before modern valved brass instruments were invented, the brass ensemble had equal standing to other chamber music ensembles. By researching alternative approaches towards playing, Zinc & Copper is exploring the potential of this medium in the 21st century.
photo by Hannes Teichmann
Members
Elena Margarita Kakaliagou
french horn
Elena Margarita Kakaliagou is a Greek-Austrian french horn player and performer. She finished her Masters in Sibelius Academy and has studied in Athens and Graz. and Helsinki. Since 2010 she lives between Berlin and Greece. Her music is guided by various forms of contemporary art, folk, jazz and classical music and is expressed in free improvisation and new music. The counterpart to her musical lyricism is her interest in harsh noise, using highly amplified sounds. She always search to find new sounds and ways to connect and transmit social aspects with music. Elena performs worldwide and plays with numerous improvising musicians and artists such as Ingrid Schmoliner, Matias Guerra, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Riikka Innanen. She is a member of the duo Nabelóse, the trio PARA, zeitkratzer, P.O.P. and Stefan Schultze’s large ensemble.
photo by Joanna Wizmur
Hilary Jeffery
trombone, trumpet
Hilary was born in Surbiton (UK) in 1971, moved to the Netherlands to study with James Fulkerson in 1998 and is based in Berlin since 2011. His musical career started with a journey to the Sahara Desert in 1990 and the sense of silent space which he experienced there is a sustaining influence on his work. Early contact with UK jazz musicians such as Paul Dunmall and Keith Tippett have had a lasting influence on Hilary’s approach to music. As a trombonist Hilary Jeffery has a direct and intuitive knowledge of playing in just intonation, based on the physical properties of his instrument.
photo by Joanna Wizmur
Robin Hayward
microtonal tuba, tuning vine
Robin was born in Brighton (UK) in 1969 and has been based in Berlin since 1998. He has introduced radical playing techniques to brass instruments, initially through the discovery of the 'noise-valve', and later through the development of the first fully microtonal tuba in 2009. His approach to the tuba has been documented in numerous solo and collaborative releases. In 2005 he founded Zinc & Copper to explore brass chamber music from an experimental music perspective. Other ensembles include the microtonal tuba trio Microtub and the tuba and double bass duo Reidemeister Move. In 2012 he invented the Hayward Tuning Vine, partly as a visualisation of the harmonic space implicit within the microtonal tuba. In 2012 the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA) presented him with the Clifford Bevan Award for Excellence in Research for his 2011 article on the history and development of the microtonal tuba. In 2016 he also received the ITEA's Jim and Jamie Self Creative Award.
photo by Joanna Wizmur
Z&C + Paul Schwingenschlögl - live in Körner Park, Berlin
photo by Joanna Wizmur
Previous Members
Daniel Costello - french horn
Patrick Crossland - trombone
Dianna Gaetjens- french horn
Daniel Ploeger - trombone
Samuel Stoll - french horn
Guest Musicians
Mo Abbott - bass trombone
Ella Vala Armannsdottir - french horn
Leo Beslać - flute
Hayden Chisholm – alto sax
Yorgos Dimitriadis - drums
Amir ElSaffar - trumpet, voice
Katarina Grubić - oboe
Colin Hacklander - drums
Rozemarie Heggen - double bass
Danijel Hršak - trumpet
Paul Hübner - trumpet
Carl Ludwig Hübsch - tuba
Gideon Kiers - computer
Barbara Kinga Majewska - voice
Ivan Marincel - trombone
Matthias Müller - trombone
Lovro Livajić - alto saxophone
Dearbhla Nolan - flugelhorn
Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø - trombone
Morton J. Olsen - percussion
Claudio Puntin - clarinets
Yaroslav Sadovyy - clarinet
Paul Schwingenschlögl - flugelhorn
James Wylie - alto sax
Press
Quotes
Well Tuned Brass 2022
“Much of what Zinc and Copper does makes the listener aware of the physical perception of pulsing air… their delicate approach to playing often extremely quiet and detailed compositions usually associated with loudnedd is - visibly for many in attendance - nothing short of cathartic”
AJ Samuels
The Wire, January 2023
Well Tuned Brass 2020
“The first time I experience the electrifying buzz and glow of the harmonies produced by the trio Zinc and Copper was on Ellen Arkbro’s astonishing 2016 album For Organ and Brass. I was eager to hear how they’d transform “Chords,” a more recent Arkbro piece I’d heard in solo organ and solo guitar versions. As I sat in the cozy KM28 that night trombonist Hilary Jeffrey, horn player Elena Kakaliagou, and tubaist Robin Hayward seemed to summon an invisible 3-D object from air, a soft-edged block of seemingly infinite sound that I repeatedly got lost within.”
Peter Margasak
Ellen Arkbro "For Organ and Brass"
”For Organ and Brass' is a beautiful series of minimalist, sombre adjustments. The two tracks - 'For Organ and Brass' and 'Three' are cyclical sets of melancholy drones and resigned exhalations on horn, trombone and tuba. Berlin based Zinc & Copper ensemble cover the brass part of the title creating a much softer, muffled sound than you might expect.”
Claire Sawers
The Wire, May 2017
Amir ElSaffar "Maqam / Brass Resonance"
“The US trumpeter Amir ElSaffar premiered 'Maqam/Brass Resonance' in the modern Hohenzollernplatz church, whose long, arched sides hosted the horn section before they promenaded to join the drums and tuba on the stage. Drawn out tones fed on reverberation, and the horn patterns accelerated and overlapped, as they moved through the piece's various developmental sections. A Balkan wedding skip backed a writhing saxophone solo, breaking down into a free-er passage with sparse hand drumming, then into a maqam-style processional. The players returned to the arches unexpectedly, then presented a rousing conclusion back at the front of the stage.”
Martin Longley
Jazzwise Magazine, November 2017
Robin Hayward "Words of Paradise"
“The three players are doing it in the framework of Hayward’s ‘Tuning Vine’, which also shaped the colour coding in the graphic score; this set-up gives the players some leeway about making improvisatory decisions. …The overall shape of the piece reveals itself over 40 minutes… This structure is intended as a metaphor for man’s fall from Paradise, in keeping with Becanus’ original idea. It’s a good one… the players work conscientiously and methodically, building up tension.”
Ed Pinsent
The Sound Projector, September 2019
“Recorded in 2016 by Zinc & Cooper, Hayward's long-running brass chamber ensemble - Elena Margarita Kakaliagou on horn, Hilary Jeffery on trombone, and Hayward on microtonal tuba, Words of Paradise is a wondrous conceptual expanse… Deep, rumbling, expansive, immersive, challenging, and simply beautiful, Words of Paradise is yet another brilliant release from one of contemporary experimental music’s most interesting voices. Unquestionably essential.”
Sound Ohm, March 2018
Hi-Res Photos
(click for hi-res image, right-click to download)
photo by Joanna Wizmur
photo by Joanna Wizmur
photo by Joanna Wizmur
photo by Hannes Teichmann