About the Band
Tradition Meets the Present
ALMA is a band devoted to traditional music – and to pushing beyond its boundaries. In search of their musical roots, the ensemble continually digs deeper into the soil, uncovering both long-forgotten roots and those that have been familiar for generations.
Yet ALMA’s music is not only an exploration of tradition; it is also a way of carrying that tradition into the present. With great care and an archaeologist’s sensitivity, the five musicians based in Vienna devote themselves to everything that is dear and precious to them.
The band draws inspiration for its compositions and arrangements, among other things, from its numerous concert tours, which have taken them from Vienna across Scandinavia and as far as Peru.
Classical music and folk music, Ländler and polka, yodelling and waltz, composition and improvisation all come together as a matter of course. Everything is authentic - joy, happiness and melancholy alike. Every note is played with profound respect, while inspiration is always given room to breathe. ALMA’s music thus crosses boundaries without ever breaking with musical tradition.
Their debut album, Nativa, was released on the col legno label in 2013, followed by their second album, Transalpin, in May 2015. Their third album, Oeo, with its Dadaist title, was released in 2017 and is devoted to the Esperanto of Alpine music. The international auxiliary language was created to facilitate communication across borders; in the Alpine region, it has a musical counterpart that may not look like a language at first glance. How can that be? Quite simply: the mellifluous language of yodelling can convey messages that spoken language can never quite express - emotional states, feelings that endure through time, or simply the joy of being alive.
Their fourth album, Cherubim, is a winter album - a record that leads into stillness. It was released on the Trikont label in 2019.
Members
Julia Lacherstorfer, violin, vocals | Upper Austria
Evelyn Mair, violin, vocals | South Tyrol
Matteo Haitzmann, violin, vocals | Salzburg
Marie-Theres Stickler, diatonic button accordion, vocals | Lower Austria
Marlene Lacherstorfer, double bass, vocals | Upper Austria
