Live Music – mem.li

2023 USA Tour Impressions

10 live shows in 30 days including a 3’800 miles roadtrip through nine south eastern states. A few highlights of my 2023 USA Solo Tour are listed below:

Music for Airport, released on Bandcamp, december 24th, was recorded live at San Antonio International Airport on october 12th:

*Music for Airport – Philipp Zuercher: Electric Guitar, Live Loops*

Music for Solar Eclipse, a live performance taking place during the annular solar eclipse on october 14th in King William Park, San Antonio, TX:

Music for Grass Harp, celebrating some honors bestowed on my composition China Tree with a live performance on its home turf, so to speak: playing a concert on october 19th in the historical courtroom of Monroeville AL, home of «To Kill a Mockingbird» by Harper Lee, and «The Grass Harp» by Truman Capote:

*My Solo Guitar Setup in the Witness Stand, from Scout’s Perspective perhaps*

On the Road, in a maelstrom of fall colors on the Blue Ridge Parkway, in between four shows in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee:

*Blue Ridge Parkway, just after Asheville NC…*

Halloween in Tennessee, playing a show at the Pilot Light in Knoxville on october 30th:

Philipp Zuercher Live at The Pilot Light, Knoxville TN

An last but not least, on my return journey to a last show in Texas, I was onto The Trail of Tears and The Secret City of Oak Ridge, keeping track of some of the most emotionally charged aspects of an intriguing country’s history:

Hit the Bell! – Headphones Recommended to Hear that long Drone

USA Tour 2023

Philipp Zuercher: Solo Electric Guitar and Live Loops

Texas LoopFest

Music for Airport, San Antonio TX

Celebrating 45 years of Ambient Loop Music, as introduced by Brian Eno on his groundbreaking record «Ambient 1 – Music for Airports» in 1978:

Tuesday, October 10th, 4 pm – 6 pm CDT, SAT Airport, San Antonio TX
Wednesday, October 11th, 3 – 5 pm CDT, SAT Airport, San Antonio TX
Thursday, October 12th, noon – 2 pm CDT, SAT Airport, San Antonio TX

Music for Solar Eclipse

This year’s annular solar eclipse will be visible at 100% in the south of Texas. I am honored and excited to announce that my Texas Loopfest appearance has been allocated the exact time of this astronomical occurrence:

Saturday, October 14th, 11:40 am – 12:10 pm CDT, King William Park, San Antonio TX

China Tree

Based on The Grass Harp by Truman Capote

By courtesy of the Monroe County Heritage Museum, I will let my China Tree grow on its home turf, in a manner of speaking. Find out more about the event here.

Thursday, October 19th, 5 pm CDT, at The Old Courthouse Museum, Monroeville AL

Halloween Carousel

Sunday, October 22nd, 7 pm EDT, The Well, Ashville NC
Thursday, October 26th, 7 pm EDT, Art Rat Studios, Roanoke VA
Sunday, October 29th, 7 pm EDT, Sluggo’s, Chattanooga, TN
Monday, October 30th, 7 pm EDT, The Pilot Light, Knoxville TN

Closing The Loop

To come full circle, I will be part of the Loopalooza back in Texas before returning to Switzerland to play at home:

Saturday, November 4th, 7 pm CDT, Grackle Art Gallery, Dallas Fort Worth TX
Saturday, November 11th, 8:30 pm MEZ, Cafe Hueber, Bern – Switzerland

*Annular (Ring Shaped) Solar Eclipse in New Mexico, 2012*

China Tree Honors

Some unexpected honors are bestowed on my composition China Tree – Based on The Grass Harp by Truman Capote.

Firstly, by Stuart Noel Ph.D. – Professor of English at Georgia State University – who has chosen the sheet music to be published in his «Studies in the Works and Life of Truman Capote» – Edited Collection of Selected Papers for Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Secondly – and not least to celebrate the event mentioned above – I have got the opportunity to perform my China Tree on its home turf, so to speak:

Monroeville, Alabama, is the place where both Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Grass Harp, In Cold Blood…) and Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman…) spent part of their youth, became friends and may have been inspired to some of their great literary work.

The title of my piece being an allusion to the place in the tree house where Dolly, Catherine, Collin and Judge Cool withdrew from a society’s lack of appreciation, «China Tree» is a musical essay on some of the novel’s characters and ideas, if you will.

By courtesy of the Monroe County Museum, I will now be playing a concert in the very courtroom that has inspired many a scene in «To Kill a Mockingbird», in the town where the tree house and the wispering grass may still be found:

Thursday, October 19th, 5 pm CDT, The Old Courthouse Museum, Monroeville AL

*The courtroom in the Old Courthouse Museum, Monroeville AL*

Find out about all shows on my USA Tour 2023 here.

Dragonfly on Swiss National Radio

The new concept album «Dragonfly – Future Songs» was featured in the latest Musikmagazin by Florian Hauser on Swiss National Radio SRF 2 Kultur.

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Listen to the «Swiss Corner» of the monthly Musikmagazin featuring «Dragonfly – Future Songs». (German)

Originally, Dragonfly was one of my solo studio projects. During Covid-19 lockdowns it grew into a virtual band including me playing different instruments, as well as two musicians from South Africa collaborating online, and a Swiss string quartet recorded in a nearby castle.

Dieses Bild hat ein leeres Alt-Attribut. Der Dateiname ist Forellen_Schloss-Belp-1-1024x819.jpg — «Weshalb Forellen Quartett» recording at Schloss Belp in january 2021

Philipp Zuercher: composition, electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, electronic instruments, production.
Ronan Skillen: percussion, tabla, slide didgeridoo
amaFranx: bass
Weshalb Forellen Quartett: Mario Huter, Monika Camenzind, Grégoire Babey, Martin Birnstiel

Mexico Y2K Loopfest

In 2020 I was invited to perform at the Mexico Y2K Loopfest. Even now, one year later, the international music festival can not take place in Guadalajara as planned, due to Covid-19 restrictions. There will be a series of live performances available for online streaming though.

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I wanted to seize the opportunity to play a solo version of two new pieces that will be released as an elaborately produced EP later this year. «Shifting Sands» and «Future Angst» will be featuring pedal steel guitar, percussion, bass, electronics and a string quartet. Here goes a live homestudio performance, exclusively performed for the Online Y2K Mexico Loopfest including electric guitar, live looping and some electronics.