Kontai Ensemble, the Munich string project led by violinist Teresa Allgaier and cellist Juri Kannheiser, have released their debut EP, Trost. The four-track record arrived October 30 via Protomaterial Records, the independent Catalan label run by composer Joan Arnau Pàmies, who mastered the EP and co-produced it with the duo.
Each piece on Trost is a new work for violin and cello, commissioned in 2023 by Kontai alongside Feet Become Ears, the Munich concert series Allgaier co-founded. Two commissions were backed by the Bavarian funding program Bayern Innovativ, and Feet Become Ears funded the other two directly. The composers come from different corners of music. Annamaria Kowalsky, Ralph Heidel, Friederike Bernhardt, and Matīss Čudars have backgrounds in contemporary classical, electronics, jazz, and pop. Kowalsky’s “Hall of Mirrors” and Heidel’s “On that very day” were released as singles in September and October. Bernhardt’s “Locked-In Syndrome” and Čudars’ “Sway” complete the record.
The EP takes its name from Maria Trost, the chapel in southern Germany where it was recorded with engineer Noël Riedel. The chapel’s acoustics shaped the sound of the sessions, and the space ended up giving the release both its title and its emotional center.
Kontai work as a fluid ensemble. Their lineup shifts from project to project around Allgaier and Kannheiser, who both trained at Munich’s University of Music and Performing Arts and have both worked well beyond the concert hall. Allgaier also studied at London’s Guildhall School. In 2024 she released her solo debut, Six Pieces for Solo Violin, made with composer Sophia Jani, on Squama Recordings, and she fronts the electronic chamber-pop band Fallwander. She has played Wigmore Hall and the Elbphilharmonie as well as Fusion Festival and Reeperbahn.
Kannheiser divides his time between pop session work for artists including Helene Fischer, Joris, and Yvonne Catterfeld and writing music for theatre. His first musical, Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten Reloaded, earned him a 2023 German Musical Award nomination for composition.
Trost is out now via Protomaterial Records.
Trost Tracklist:
01 Annamaria Kowalsky: “Hall of Mirrors”
02 Ralph Heidel: “On that very day”
03 Friederike Bernhardt: “Locked-In Syndrome”
04 Matīss Čudars: “Sway”
Featured Image: Kontai Ensemble
