Christoph König violin, viola
Maurice Maurer violin
Miroslav Nisic accordion
Jakob Kühnemann double bass
A virtuoso classical violinist with a penchant for Eastern European music, a jazz violinist with a background in punk rock, a masterful improvisational accordionist with the Balkan sound in his blood, and a young bassist who has won several national and international jazz awards.
Four musicians who could not be more different embarked on the adventure of making music together in 2007. At the outset, the pure joy of playing takes centre stage – and it effortlessly rubs off on every audience. Over the years of making music together, the four have influenced one another; their different stylistic focuses have merged into a sound all their own, which moves with virtuosic brilliance between classical, jazz, Balkan and pop music.
Uwaga! continues to refine their shared vision with unbridled enthusiasm: music without boundaries that brings joy, that goes straight to the heart and gets the feet moving. The musicians effortlessly maintain their irrepressible enthusiasm: in a musical world without boundaries, it is fortunately never boring.
The ensemble’s multi-layered sound is both orchestral and percussive. In the search for expanded means of expression, encounters eventually arise that aim to push these musical opposites to their limits. In 2013, Uwaga! performed its own arrangements and compositions for the first time alongside the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra Essen. This extremely fruitful and successful collaboration was expanded and continued: in 2019, their first joint CD, Alle Menschen werden Brüder, was released on the ARS label to mark the Beethoven bicentenary in 2020. A Wagner programme followed two years later.
At the same time, the quartet began giving concerts with symphony orchestras throughout Germany. Their enthusiasm and unique crossover sound also inspired the large orchestras and thrilled the audience. In 2016, the successful CD Swan Fake was released with the Dortmund Philharmonic. They have also made guest appearances with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen and the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra.
Meanwhile, since 2014, Uwaga! has been working regularly with percussionists such as Max Klaas and Philipp Zdebel. These musical globetrotters from the worlds of world music percussion and pop music complement Uwaga! perfectly.
In recent years, Uwaga! has thrilled audiences at major festivals and renowned concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Elbphilharmonie, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival.
