Classical-romantic music meets jazz meets pop meets electronics meets cartoon. For Oxana Omelchuk, born in Belarus, “taking up the old as something new is the true historical motor of artistic creativity”. Musical tradition and supposed stylistic boundaries are always thought further, dissolved and blurred by her in order to bring to light original and humorous new combinations. Her portrait CD plus DVD in the series Edition Zeitgenössische Musik offers a broad insight into Omelchuk’s sound world.

Nine purely acoustic compositions are complemented by two video recordings, in which Omelchuk’s fantasy and humour show to advantage. Both Ballare (2014) for percussion quartet and video and Staahaadler Aff (2010) for percussion and sample pad testify to an alert eye for the comedy and magic of everyday life without losing sight of the exploration of compositional new territory. In the best sense of the word, she uses every means at her disposal: collage techniques, style imitations, an expanded instrumental equipment, harsh genre mixes and improvisational approaches.

From solo, duo and quartet to ensemble: the works on hand, recorded primarily for the portrait CD/DVD, form the widest possible spectrum of Oxana Omelchuk’s music. In addition to groups such as the Ensemble Musikfabrik and Studio Dan and musicians such as Rie Watanabe and Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg, Omelchuk herself can also be heard as an interpreter.