Marbleous is the duo of contrabassist Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka (Graz, Austria) and violinist Jeffrey Young (Philadelphia, PA). Marbleous performs musical free improvisation with a theatrical twist, using traditional instruments, unusual objects, and elements of theater. Margarethe and Jeffrey first met at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in 2008 and reconnected through a project of LUCERNE FESTIVAL ALUMNI in 2017. They formed Marbleous in 2019 following the premiere of the project A History of Characters, a music-theater work they created in collaboration with two other Graz-based musicians. Their premiere as a duo took the form of a five-city US tour in February-March 2020.
German-born bass player Margarethe Maierhofer-Lischka is active in many creative fields, both as a sought-after interpreter of contemporary music and as an improviser, interdisciplinary artist, theorist and dramaturg. She studied double bass and contemporary music with Silvio dalla Torre and Klangforum Wien and completed a CAS in interdisciplinary creation with Charlotte Hug and Andreas Bosshard. As an improviser, she draws on a somatic approach, combining the rich sound palette of contemporary playing techniques with a strong embodied presence, challenging the image of her instrument as well as that of the musician. She has been performing across Europe in festivals for contemporary and experimental music. Margarethe is a member and founder of several ensembles and initiatives for experimental music and interdisciplinary art, and has worked with renowned composers and artists from different fields. Besides performing gives lectures and workshops and writes about contemporary music and art. In 2019, she will complete her PhD at the University of Music in Graz.
Jeffrey Young is a violinist, composer, and electronic musician based in Philadelphia, PA who specializes in experimental, rock, and classical music. A native of Brooklyn, NY, Jeffrey spent over a decade as a professional musician in the New York City music scene, where he worked as a freelance violinist and developed a practice of creating music through a combination of improvisation and composition, including work developed collaboratively with his experimental classical ensemble thingNY and others. As a solo artist, he often performs with the software Ableton Live. He has toured the US, Europe, and China, as a solo artist, with thingNY, with cabaret-punk band the World/Inferno Friendship Society, with Switzerland-based ensemble LUCERNE FESTIVAL Young Performance, with bass and violin duo Dykes & Young, with percussion and violin duo Wise & Young, and others. He has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, the Rachael Ray show, the Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum, and more.
Past Performances by Marbleous
Marbleous Inaugural Tour, February-March 2020
Tuesday, February 25, doors 7:30pm, show 8pm at Out of the Blue Too, 14 Harvard Ave, 3rd floor, Allston, MA, $10 suggested, with Lani Asuncion and Andrea Pensado
Thursday, February 27, doors 6:30pm, show 7pm at Spectrum, 70 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, NY, $15 general/$10 students & seniors, with Leah Asher and Jason Anastasoff
Friday, February 28, 8pm at Plantasia, private address, Philadelphia, PA, $5-10, with Magic Wand, Madam Data, and Leo Suarez
Saturday, February 29, 7pm at 5D, private address, Baltimore, MD, $5-20, with Georgia Beatty and Ledah Finck
Sunday, March 1, 8pm at Rhizome DC, 6950 Maple St NW, Washington, DC, tickets $10, with Jason Mullinax, Implicit Bias, and Sarah Marie Hughes