Vanessa Porter - Folie à deux (2022)

Sound artist Vanessa Porter addresses the psychotic disorder "folie à deux" with solo works for percussion and her own sound installations. An emotional journey with works by Georges Aperghis, Salvatore Sciarrino, Alexander Sandi Kuhn, David Lang, Emil Kuyumcuyan and Vanessa Porter.

Vanessa Porter is one of the most versatile percussionists internationally and is in demand for various projects, concert formats and programmes.
As a soloist she combines current works with improvisation, electronics and performing arts and impresses with her focused creation of diverse sound spaces.

In 22/23 she will perform with her current program ‘folie à deux’ as a soloist of ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) in the most renowned, European concert halls, such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Barbican Centre London, Philharmonie Paris, L’Auditori Barcelona, and many more.

She collaborates with renowned composers such as Georges Aperghis (WP Kölner Philharmonie 2020), Jennifer Walshe (WP Funkhaus Köln 2021), Elnaz Seyedi (WP Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik 2022), Adriana Hölszky (WP ZKM Karlsruhe 2016), Marta Gentilucci (ECLAT Festival 2021), Simon Steen-Andersen (Festival Musica Strasbourg 2022), Benjamin Scheuer (WP AdW Mainz 2021), Alva Noto (WP LAB Frankfurt 2020), Zeynep Gedizlioglu, and many more.

In addition to engagements with international ensembles such as Ensemble Modern, Ascolta Ensemble and Les Percussions de Strasbourg, she performs as a soloist and chamber musician at Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, ECLAT Festival Neue Musik Stuttgart, Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Radialsystem Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, Funkhaus Köln, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kölner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Dortmund, IPEW Croatia, Festival Internacional de Percusión Tenerife, Schlossmediale Werdenberg, Origen Festival Cultural Riom.

Vanessa Porter is 1st prize winner of the August-Everding Music Competition Munich, the International Percussion Competition Luxembourg, the Music Creative Award Lindau and the PercussiveArt Contest Italy, received the Deutschlandstipendium and was a scholarship holder of the Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg and the Deutscher Musikwettbwerb.

Through her close collaboration with the Goethe Institute, she regularly travels to South and Central America and gives workshops and concerts; most recently, she was invited on a South American tour to Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico and Guatemala with the Porter Percussion Duo. Due to her many years of experience in the field of education, she collaborates with various universities and academies, such as the International Summer Academy of Music, Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart and has held masterclasses as part of the WorldPercussionGroup at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki and the University of Birmingham.

After studying at the Royal Collage of Music in London (with David Hockings) and the Musikhochschule in Lübeck (with Johannes Fischer), Vanessa Porter completed her master’s degree at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart (with Marta Klimasara, Klaus Dreher and Jürgen Spitschka) with top marks.