Commissioned and performed by youth orchestra SJSO and soloist Hannah Weirich (violin)
world premiere April 2022
(dedicated to Christoph Mudrich)
This series of 4 Pookestra quarantine recordings was each composed in one day and individually and collectively live recorded from home the next day.
Disconnected from phones or internet, connected only through imagination and a stopwatch.
Every track in one first take, on 4 sundays in 2020, 11am.
released March 4, 2021
Carolin Pook - violin/composition
Adriana Molello - violin
Tomoko Omura - violin (track 3&4)
Leonor Falcon - viola
Brian Sanders - cello
Christof Knoche - bass clarinet/harmonica
Dorothea Tachler - autoharp
Paul Orbell - electric guitar
Ari Folman-Cohen - bass
Joe Hertenstein - drums/percussion/objects
Caio Carvalho - mixing
recorded Aug 30th 2018 at Virtue and Vice Studios Brooklyn
recorded and mixed by Chris McLaughlin/ mastered by Markus Brown
artwork front by Shawna Mills / artwork back by Carolin Pook (duct tape on table)
all music by Carolin Pook
release date Oct 31 2018
Carolin Pook - composition/violin/found studio objects
Tomoko Omura - violin
Allyson Clare - viola
Brian Sanders - cello
The music is a soundtrack to four ghosts performing a dancesuite in 8 parts.
Individually, as a duo a trio or all together.
The titles describe the inner journey of their dance.
September ‘18 issue Nr. 15
of ONLINE MAGAZINE Topic.com
watch full mini series >> HERE
4 films | 29 min
West Virginia used to run on coal. Now the communities that flourished around the mines have been left to fend for themselves. In this four-part documentary series, former miners, union members, environmentalists, and students work to bring their beloved home state into the 21st century.
Directed by Addison Post
Music, Carolin Pook
Additional Camerawork, P. Nick Curran
Sound Design, Chris McLaughlin
Loroto Productions 2018
December 2017
ADDITION VI EOS Kammerorchester Cologne
(direction: Susanne Blumenthal)
Carolin Pook: violin/composition/conduction
Katharina Vogt, Inara Waiss, Enrique Carlsson - 1st violins
Yanet Infanzon La O, Tine Schäfer, Natalie Bolinsky: 2nd violins
Pauline Buss, Lydia Haurenherm - violas
Mateusz Kwiatkowski, Ana Percevic - cellos
Dennis Pientak - double bass
Roland Meschede - flute
Joao Miguel - oboe
Blake Weston - clarinet
Eugenie Ricard - bassoon
Susanne Knoop - trumpet
Yoichi Murakami - horn
Matthias Schuller - trombone
video fragment:
PAN REC video label
(fragments of a 40min performance/
live sound from camera)
Friday the 13th of October 2017
at Greenwood Cemetery BROOKLYN, NY
Carolin Pook - violin/composition
Tomoko Omura - violin
Allyson Clare - viola
Brian Sanders - cello
SPECIAL GUEST: Mark Korven - the Apprehension Engine
INTO THE VEIL 2017
an Atlas Obscura production (music curation: Adriana Molello)
video: Daisy Payero
Cosmic String Time Travel feat. SPACEPILOT
The program “Cosmic String Time Travel” by Carolin Pook feat. Spacepilot is a collision between two musical galaxies: a contemporary string quartet meets a New York power trio. Spacepilot combines influences from rock, funk and techno with free improvised sounds using guitar, synths, drums and loads of electronic effects. Their approach is extended by the postmodern compositions and free improvisations of violinist Carolin Pook, joined by three further members of a string quartet assembled for the occasion. An exciting interplay between sound collage and congruent grooves running the gamut from psychedelic sounds to danceable tropes.
Carolin Pook – vl, comp
Sabine Akiko Ahrendt – vl
Werner Dickel – va
Elisabeth Coudoux – vc
Elias Meister – g, fx
Leo Genovese – synth, key, fx
Joe Hertenstein – dr, perc, fx
FOTOS: Helmut Berns
Discussions: fun medicine?
Achim Zepezauer - electronics
Carolin Pook - drums
Achim Krämer - drums
Pavel Arakelian - saxophone
FOTO: André Symann
A practice against perfection that takes 5 minutes of my time..
I am taking one minute still videos of New York City and improvise 4 track violin soundtracks on the spot when I get home.
They are all a little different
with a little bit of pretty and a little bit of weird
and a whole lot of love for my favorite city.
LIVE at Moers Festival 2016
‘Pezzettino 8’ is an approx. 40-minute musical arrangement for violins and percussive instruments of any kind, performed by eight musicians. It has been composed for moers festival 2016 by Carolin Pook (violin/percussion/conducter) who assembled an international ensemble of solo artists with different musical backgrounds for it. Each part is specifically arranged for each musician. The different parts keep on merging into a collage of pulsing sounds with individual solo passages breaking out. The continuously growing soundscape of violins and percussions tries to describe a simple moment in time and its often slow-paced creation process. It leads up to a sudden and relieving awareness that we are all but a ‘pezzettino’. A tiny morsel of something, a pixel, a puzzle piece, a grain of sand, a dust particle, an organism in one universe, one universe of many
the POOKESTRA - HERZKOPF dances
recorded Dec 7/8 2011 at Thump Studios Brooklyn
recorded and mixed by Stephen Schappler / mastered by Markus Brown
artwork front by Shawna Mills / artwork back by Carolin Pook (duct tape on wall)
all music by Carolin Pook and the Pookestra / poem by Mike Doughty
release date Dec 12 2012
Carolin Pook (violin_snare drum (3)_toypiano_electronic bass drum) ++ Werner Dickel (viola) ++ Brian Sanders (cello) ++ Christof Knoche (bassclarinet_harmonica_flute) ++ Pascal Niggenkemper (double bass) ++ Craig Akin (double bass) ++ David Mason (drums_eletronics) ++ Caitlin Jemison (vocals tracks 2+4) ++ Alastair Ottesen (vocals track 4) ++ Mike Doughty (voice track 5)
The suite in four movements is a dance suite. It describes a fictitious biography and it is advisable to listen to all 4 movements in a row, since they belong together. The words to describe the movements would be (1) birth, (2) life, (3) waiting and (4) peace. The fifth piece is separate from the suite. It’s a poem written by Mike Doughty especially for this recording. The music around it is a free improvisation conducted by Carolin Pook.
This album was recorded live without overdubs in one and a half days, in an intimate room just big enough to fit the 9 piece group.
The violin (protagonist) part in movement 1 and the snare part in movement 3 are fully improvised, while all the other musicians play written parts. Movement 2 is based on the idea of chaos/collage and the experience of unforseeable impacts and events. In movement 4, the protagonist makes several live changing encounters before standing alone and finding peace.
Video directed and edited by Nick Clark
the video shows the WORLD PREMIERE of a 5-minute composition for two violins by Carolin Pook.
The piece is somewhat theatrical and its title describes it well.
Carolin Pook - violin
Lola Rubio - violin
performed 6/25/2016 at Halle V/Riedel
Wuppertal/ Germany
fiesta instrumentale dedicated to and inspired by the music of every banda de musica in the streets of Spain and South France during the ferias and corridas
commissioned by the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln/Wuppertal 2014
this video shows its World Premiere at the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal/April 23rd 2015
performed by students of the HfMT Cologne/Wuppertal
conducted by Werner Dickel
featuring and dedicated to: Peter Brötzmann
Oct 26th 2012 at Cafe Ada/Wuppertal WUPPERTALER JAZZMEETING
music for 8 percussionists and one improvising saxophonist.
commissioned by the Wuppertaler Jazzmeeting 2012
performed by:Peter Brötzmann (bassclarinet) Ensemble Q Werner Dickel (conductor)
Never Not was commissioned for the 10th anniversary of the Wuppertaler Jazzmeeting 2013. It is written for and dedicated to Peter Brötzmann. Listening to Brötzmanns playing inspires to never not express yourself, never not try or never not do. Each of the 9 players is encouraged to never not play. In an abstract way, the 30 minutes piece describes being born into a system, trying to escape it on your own, building new systems with others to fight the old one, becoming stronger and finding your place as a powerful puzzle piece by accepting the presence of your limitations.
Selection 2004 - 2017
Carolin Pook is a sought after recording artist and has appeared on over 40 recordings over the past 15 years.
performed at music conservatory Wuppertal Nov 2012
Carolin Pook/ solo violin + composition ++ Milena Schuster/violin ++ Werner Dickel /viola ++ Alexander Zhibaj/cello ++ Ferdinand Junghänel/ cembalo+toypiano ++ Salome Amend/marimba,tam tam+snare drum
While collaborating with Carolin Pook for the Wuppertaler Jazzmeeting in Germany, the conductor and viola professor Werner Dickel suggested to use the time off to gather some students of the music conservatory and create an impromptus classical Pookestra experience. With two intense days of composing, a small workshop, one concentrated rehearsal and conducted improvised parts on stage, the performance at the music conservatory in Wuppertal was a great success. The music is based on the simple emotion of sadness. The violin concerto is therefore based on the key of minor. It is about 20 minutes long and has 3 different parts which are all supposed to be sad, each in a different way.
Queen of Sybils - Dark Horse
Thistle Jemison (band leader/vocals/electric guitar/compositions) ++ Carolin Pook (drums) ++ Terrence Murren (electric bass)
band leader and song writer Thistle Jemison writes:
"These songs are very personal. They come from a dark place inside myself; they are the voice of my past, of many of the things that happened that I sometimes feel I will never get over. I stopped playing this music in part because I felt the stories in this album are too unpleasant to tell repeatedly. While writing and performing these songs was a cathartic experience for me, I will be more proud when I can create work that inspires beauty and healing. Thanks to all those who caused me to struggle enough to want to turn this clay into a diamond."
a lyrical ecstasy for symphony orchestra and jazz quintet dedicated to Charlie Parker
by Carolin Pook (composition/orchestration) and Oliver Strauch (composition/idea)
LIVE AUDIO from the world premiere performance at St. Ingberter Jazz Festival 2011
commissioned by Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern
first live performance march 25th 2011 at International Jazz Festival St. Ingbert by Deutsche Radiophilharmonie (conductor Christoph Poppen) and the Roy Hargrove quintet
Hannes & Pook – Oceans
recorded April 2008 by aaron nevezie at the bunker studio, Brooklyn/New York artwork and screenprint by Maki Shimizu
release date 26 April 2008
Carolin Pook met Hannes Buder on the internet music platform myspace in 2006, while she was searching for a new and different guitar sound. She was inspired by his one of a kind way of playing and contacted him. Shortly after, Buder booked a duo tour in Germany. They met for the first time in person at their first show in Leipzig/Germany, which was such a success that the band ‘Hannes & Pook’ was born. In 2008, after a US East coast tour, they recorded this album ‘Oceans’, a mix of Buders’ compositions and free improvisations.