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Born in between different worlds, different cultural identities, and the persistent feeling of not belonging anywhere, being rootless, being homeless; this describes very much as well the musical career of Swiss raised, Czech musician of Pashtun descent, Miron Andres.

 

The viola da gamba being his first instrument, he studied the “early repertoire” at the Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität (Austria) with Pierre Pitzl, as well as with many private tutors (Brigitte Gasser, Martin Bauer, Sarah Cunningham). He finished his BA in music in the specialization of medieval and renaissance performance practice at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, CH), in the class of Randall Cook.

 

Feeling caged by the limitations of “historical correctness” he fled to the Netherlands to pursue a Master's in contemporary music, with Margareth Urquhart, as well as taking private lessons with Joshua Cheatham.

 

Since his Master's in 2017 he has been very active in the extension of the viola da gamba repertoire (solo, ensemble and opera). Some of these works have been premiered at festivals such as the Tampering 2017 (Tampere, Finland), Opera Forward Festival Amsterdam 2017, Prix Annelie de Man 2018 (Amsterdam) and the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam 2018.

 

But his love for early music has not been forgotten. He can be heard regularly in festivals such as the BRQ Vantaa (Finland), Festival de Musique Ancinene de Callas (France), Festivalul Baroc Tmisoara (RO), V Festival Opera do Parana (Curitiba, Brazil) and the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

 

In 2019, Arcana (Outhere) released his recording together with Europa Ritrovata, Affect is No Crime. New Music for old Instruments.

And in 2021, Olive Music/Et’cetera released “Crossroads”, an album with almost only new works that were commissioned by the Tampering Festival for Ugly Pug.

 

Miron won the second prize (ensemble) of the Förderpreis für Alte Musik Saarbrücken 2012, as well as the first prize (Contactus, with Juho Myllylä) of the EAR-ly competition in Vantaa (Finland) 2016.

In 2019 he won the International Van Wassenaer Early Music Competition in Utrecht, with the duo Contactus (jury prize, AVROTROS radio prize and the OOM-prize).

 

The collectives and groups he's been working with on a regular basis, such as Ugly Pug, Contactus, Lux Beata, Europa Ritrovata, Ensemble Hesperis, Capella dei Signori, Ensemble Joseph Hel, and many others, have brought him all across Europe and beyond.

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© JOE MEIJER PHOTOGRAPHY

After intense focus on electronic music, especially analog synthesizers, he was awarded in 2022 a three month ProHelvetia artist residency in Johannesburg, ZA. The results will be presented in 2023 in the form of an audio installation (composition and sound design) in Johannesburg. In 2022, albus-editions released Miron's first solo CD (as performer and composer) "from nowhere to nowhere", as one of the results of his residency.  Spreading the love for the queen of all musical instruments, Miron is giving more and more lectures and workshops, mainly at composition departments at renowned universities, such as UCSC Santa Cruz, California USA.

Working with composers has been an important part of Miron's career. However, indulging into all the possibilities the viola da gamba has to offer, he has been more and more active as a creator of audio art, using analog synths as well, and connecting different means of expression in interdisciplinary work

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