Andreas Vollenweider was born in 1953 and is the son of Hans Vollenweider (1918-1993), an organist and composer. Andreas growing up in a creatively diverse and inspiring environment is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, he searches for ‘his’ instrument.
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At a very young age Andreas went on adventurous musical journeys in various projects in jazz, rock, pop, free jazz and avant-garde classics as well as music for film and theatre. For a long time he remained a restless seeker, looking for his own artistic language. Even the choice of his instruments left him unsatisfied: despite his love for the piano or the wind and string instruments in his collection: there was always something missing. Even though this was not his intention, he became a true multi-instrumentalist over the years.
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In 1975, An discovered the harp and, finding its traditional versions too limited for his own musical ideas, developed his own playing technique, tailoring the instrument according to his needs. He created the electro-acoustic harp.
The Music of Andreas Vollenweider
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In 1984, the album “White Winds” entered the American billboard charts. Released through CBS Masterworks in North America, his records remained on catalogue, clocking up to six-figure sales. Andreas embarked on his first American tour in November of that year, making his debut at the Beacon Theatre, New York. It was presented by Carly Simon who had discovered his music a year earlier. She explained that “I knew I had discovered something that was going to change me in a wonderful way, I became so obsessed with his music that anyone who came to my house was introduced to it within the first 10 or 15 minutes”. Through CBS she contacted the artist and arranged for his American debut. As his instrumental tracks were generally deemed unsuitable for radio, he largely relied on word-of-mouth to gather a following.
A team of specialists in infant brain imaging from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the University Hospital of Geneva (HUG) has approached Vollenweider, to develop a specific music, which would provide a calming acoustic environment to these babies (positive emotional experiences) but at the same time would stimulate the brain activity (development of the brain). Since the beginning of the study, many children and parents have already experienced the positive effect, this particular music seems to have.
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Vollenweider's "Soundtrack" apparently shows the hoped-for effect and enables significant improvements in brain development. This can counteract the otherwise widespread cognitive, emotional and social deficits.
Andreas is working on new music.
He also has expanded the field of his creative work. The results are expected to become public in the coming year.
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Very Exciting!