Andreas Ziegelbäck

Bleak Forest

Bleak Forest is a wind orchestra piece for smaller ensembles and primarily offers the musicians room to improve their sound and effects playing. The necessary technical requirements are therefore deliberately not too high. With this piece the composer won the "VLAMO International Composition Contest 2022". Thematically, the work is influenced by childhood memories of the composer. In his homeland there was a dark, legendary forest, which seemed magical to the children from the small village. For no specific reason, every excursion into this forest turned into an exciting, sometimes terrifying adventure. They were told about threatening animals, which can be heard at the beginning of the play, as well as about magical beings. The magic of the forest is set to music in the Andante from measure 70. The snapping of fingers represents isolated raindrops. From bar 99, the march home is described, with occasional queasy feelings arising as the children frighten each other with their imaginative tales. In the end, however, there is the safe arrival at home, because magical creatures only exist in stories after all... or do they? Andreas Ziegelbäck studied music education at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and history at the Paris Lodron University. In addition to his studies, he was trained in ensemble conducting for wind orchestra by conductor and composer Thomas Doss. It was Doss who sparked Ziegelbäck's interest in composing. In 2021 Andreas Ziegelbäck completed his composition studies with Johannes Maria Staud. In 2020 he took part in a masterclass in Bern with Oliver Waespi for brass band composition, with a subsequent premiere by the Swiss Army Brass Band.